Bill > S3183

This bill modifies various provisions of the state's renewable energy incentive programs and requires electric public utilities to consider interconnection applications for certain solar projects. Key changes include allowing the co-location of solar facilities under specific conditions, removing size restrictions for solar facilities up to 20 megawatts located on commercial or industrial rooftops, landfills, brownfields, contaminated sites, or mining sites until December 31, 2028, and granting projects on these sites a minimum of 33 months from registration to achieve commercial operation, with extensions for utility-caused delays and the ability to re-register if deadlines are missed. The bill also mandates that electric public utilities must accept and process interconnection applications for community solar or remote net metering facilities on electric lines sized 34.5 kilovolts or less, classifying these as distribution lines unless they are under the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and clarifies that applicants are responsible for all interconnection study and upgrade costs, which cannot be recovered by utilities from ratepayers. Additionally, the bill expands the definition of a "renewable energy facility" to include energy storage technology and permits renewable energy facilities on 10 or more contiguous acres to be a permitted use in industrial or commercial districts, and allows solar, photovoltaic, or battery storage facilities on commercial or industrial rooftops, landfills, brownfields, contaminated sites, or closed resource extraction operations to be a permitted use in any municipality. Finally, it increases the capacity limit for remote net metered solar energy projects serving public entities to 20 megawatts and clarifies site eligibility for these projects, including those on landfills, brownfields, contaminated sites, or mining sites.