The Connecticut Senate on Tuesday passed a bill, 30-5, that would direct two state utilities to develop energy storage pilot programs in support of a 1-GW storage goal for 2030.

The bill (HB 5327) now goes to Gov. Ned Lamont for his signature, having passed the House of Representatives unanimously in mid-April.

As passed with amendments, HB 5327 would require Avangrid (NYSE:AGR) and Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) to submit three proposals each by the end of the year to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority for pilot programs to build, own and operate energy storage systems. The bill would also limit the utilities’ current authority to own energy storage by requiring that any new facilities enhance distribution reliability or resilience and maximize facility participation in wholesale markets.

“We need to keep an eye on our power grid and energy generation; we need to make sure we remain competitive in the markets in years to come,” Sen. Norm Needleman (D), chair of the legislature’s joint Energy and Technology Committee, said in a statement upon passage of the bill.

The nonprofit RENEW Northeast expressed disappointment in passage of the bill at the expense of another storage bill (SB 90), saying in a statement Thursday that HB 5327 would give utilities a “monopoly” for building six energy storage projects.

“The electric distribution companies now have reserved for themselves a large portion of the energy storage market,” said Francis Pullaro, executive director of RENEW. “Insulating the utilities from competition is contrary to Connecticut’s strong, pro-consumer law and unnecessary for any technical reason.”

RENEW urged Lamont to veto the bill.

Connecticut’s energy storage law, which went into effect last year, allows the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to issue requests for proposals for utility-scale storage projects to reach 300 MW by 2024, 650 MW by 2027 and 1 GW by 2030.

SB 90 would have provided a technical fix so DEEP could move forward with a proceeding launched in October for a competitive storage solicitation under that law. The bill’s language gave DEEP the necessary authority to direct Avangrid and Eversource to enter power purchase agreements for up to 20 years for projects the department selects under the solicitation.

Avangrid and Eversource objected to SB 90 in hearing testimony in February.

“The PPA model only works when the parties can identify a knowable production quantity over which to pay the storage project developer, but there is no such knowable quantity with storage for energy,” Eversource said.

SB 90 was on the Senate calendar at the end of the session, as recommended for passage by the Energy and Technology Committee. No vote was taken on the bill.

Hydrogen Study

The Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed another bill, HB 5200, which would authorize the creation of a task force to study hydrogen-fueled energy opportunities for the state.

Among the task force study parameters are reviews of:

• regulations and legislation to achieve economies of scale for hydrogen;
• hydrogen-related incentives and programs in the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act;
• workforce development opportunities;
• sources of clean hydrogen, including wind, solar, biogas and nuclear; and
• funding sources for hydrogen energy programs and infrastructure.

The task force would have to submit a report to the General Assembly by Jan. 15, 2023. The bill now goes to the governor for his signature, having passed the House 142-2 in April.