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PUC proposes exception language allowing additional projects on same parcel if interconnections separate and statutory caps unchanged
Summary
Public Utility Commission counsel told the House Energy committee Feb. 5 that revised exception-c language for H.710 would preserve net-metering (500 kW) and standard-offer (2.2 MW) program caps while allowing additional PPA or RPS-eligible projects on the same parcel when they have separate points of interconnection.
The House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee reviewed proposed revisions Feb. 5 to exception c in H.710, language that determines when multiple renewable-generation facilities may be collocated on a single parcel or contiguous parcels without violating program caps.
Steph Hoffman, general counsel for the Public Utility Commission, told the committee the new drafting is intended to ‘‘preserve the statutory caps without any additional capacity on those sites that could be looked at in aggregate and then violate those capacity caps.’’ Under the proposed language, additional projects would be allowed on a parcel so long as they have separate points of interconnection and do not cause a net metering or standard-offer program to exceed its statutory compensation cap.
Hoffman gave examples: a 500-kilowatt net-metering system could coexist on a parcel with a separate 5-megawatt PPA project if each facility has a different point of interconnection; similarly, a 2.2-megawatt standard-offer facility could sit alongside a PPA. She emphasized, however, that net metering and standard-offer projects may not be collocated on the same parcel or contiguous parcels where doing so would allow program compensation limits to be bypassed.
Committee members discussed practical implications, including how the definition affects which application and rate a project receives and the engineering reality that separate points of interconnection are usually required for separately applied projects. Peter Sterling told the committee he reviewed the new language and found it acceptable.
Hoffman said the proposed text would be implemented and refined through stakeholder workshops and the normal legislative drafting process. Representative Kathleen James indicated staff would circulate an updated draft and look for a date to bring the language to a committee vote.
The committee did not take a final vote on H.710 during the Feb. 5 session.
