A leading environmental group claims the reauthorization of Connecticut incentives for rooftop and community solar programs until 2035 as a victory for clean energy in this year’s state legislative session that ended last week.
“Streamlining the residential solar permitting process. Allowing plug-in solar and studying agrivoltaics (the co-location of solar panels and agriculture on the same land), among other things,” said Lori Brown, the executive director of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters.
The bill approved on the last day of the session continues solar energy incentives despite cuts from the Trump administration.
“We actually were debating this year whether or not it was the right year for us to move forward with solar incentives,” said Representative Jonathan Steinberg (D-Westport), the outgoing House chair of the Environment Committee.
The most consequential provision incentivizes solar energy storage.
“The biggest feature of this bill going forward is the focus on storage as a way to fully activate the value of solar panels across the country,” Steinberg said.
The bill places the programs under a $85 million annual target budget.
Advocates say that represents a 10% savings over the program’s historic cost.
