The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Seeking solar boost, Lamont eyes school rooftops
BRANFORD — Dozens of solar panels glint in the sunlight on the roof of Mary R. Tisko Elementary School, feeding power into the classrooms below and saving the school district thousands of dollars a year on their utility bill since they were powered up last fall.
Tisko is one of around 300 public schools in Connecticut equipped with solar panels, a number that Gov. Ned Lamont declared Monday he would like to see quadruple in the next several years as a result of policy changes he is pushing the legislature to enact.
“I think we ought to have each and every one of our schools with more solar power,” Lamont said, surrounded by fourth graders from Tisko and a delegation of state and local officials. “Think what that would do in terms of reducing our energy demand going forward, and saving our schools a lot of money that they can put right in the classroom.”
Connecticut law now limits the amount of nonresidential solar panels that can be installed each year in order to promote competition in the market and drive down prices. Advocates for renewable energy, however, have argued that the caps also stifle the state’s efforts to achieve carbon-free electricity by 2040.
In order to boost solar production without raising the politically-sensitive caps, Lamont’s administration is seeking to take schools out from under the cap and place them in a separate solar-development program with new financial incentives overseen by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.
The governor’s proposal, House Bill 5052, would also adjust how funds for solar projects are accounted for when calculating school construction grants, lowering costs for school districts that successfully apply for solar installation grants. Should those incentives fail to nudge districts in the direction of solar, the bill would also mandate
that superintendents conduct studies to determine how much rooftop space the district has available for solar panels, as well as the potential cost savings.
While the bill has no unified opposition from outside the legislature, Republican lawmakers
have criticized the governor’s language as “ambiguous,” with the potential to unleash unintended consequences.
“We want to be careful with our neighbors too, [the bill] doesn’t mention if it’s rooftop, canopy, it could be an old playground that this is put into,” said state Rep. Bill Buckbee, R-New Milford. “I think there’s a lot of
tweaking that needs to be done on this bill; I don’t think it’s ready for prime time.”
Solar currently produces a little over 4 percent of Connecticut’s electricity through 1,481 megawatts of installed capacity, according to the Solar Energies Industries Association. Lamont’s plan would allow PURA to cap the school-based solar program at no more than 25 megawatts each year, though that cap would be separate from the statewide limits on non-residential solar.
Funding for schools districts to install solar panels is available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed by President Joe Biden in 2021, as well as a handful of state programs. Lamont’s
bill would authorize any new funding specifically for solar development in schools.
“Our goal is to get both clean and affordable,” Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes said. “We’ve had a really good success with the existing programs that PURA has been implementing, of harnessing
competition to get solar developed at the least cost possible.”
After passing out of committee on a party-line vote last month, the governor’s bill is currently awaiting action on the House floor. Lawmakers have until the end of the session on midnight May 8 to vote on bills and send them to Lamont’s desk to sign into law.