(a)On or after July 1, 2024, the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection, in consultation with the procurement manager identified in subsection (l) of section 16-2, the Office of Consumer Counsel and the Attorney General, may solicit proposals, in one solicitation or multiple solicitations, from providers of instantaneous run-of-the-river hydropower that is interconnected with the electric distribution system. In making any selection of such proposals, the commissioner shall consider factors, including, but not limited to:
(1)Whether the proposal is in the interest of ratepayers, including, but not limited to, the delivered price of any electricity, capacity or environmental attributes that are procured pursuant to such solicitation;
(2)the emissions profile of such provider
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(a) On or after July 1, 2024, the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection, in consultation with the procurement manager identified in subsection (l) of section 16-2, the Office of Consumer Counsel and the Attorney General, may solicit proposals, in one solicitation or multiple solicitations, from providers of instantaneous run-of-the-river hydropower that is interconnected with the electric distribution system. In making any selection of such proposals, the commissioner shall consider factors, including, but not limited to: (1) Whether the proposal is in the interest of ratepayers, including, but not limited to, the delivered price of any electricity, capacity or environmental attributes that are procured pursuant to such solicitation; (2) the emissions profile of such provider's facilities that generate such hydropower; (3) any investments that such provider has made or is anticipated to make in improving such facility's emissions profile or environmental performance, such as investments related to water quality, water flow or fish passage; (4) any positive impacts on the state's economic development; (5) whether the proposal is consistent with the policy goals outlined in the Comprehensive Energy Strategy adopted pursuant to section 16a-3d; and (6) whether the proposal functions as a load-reducing resource or promotes electric distribution system reliability and other electric distribution system benefits, including, but not limited to, microgrids. The commissioner shall not allow any such proposal to be based on a new dam or a dam identified by the commissioner as a candidate for removal. Any such proposal shall meet applicable state and federal requirements, including state dam safety requirements and applicable site-specific standards for water quality and fish passage. (b) Not later than December 31, 2025, the commissioner may select proposals from such providers of instantaneous run-of-the-river hydropower. Facilities generating such hydropower shall have a total nameplate capacity rating of not more than twenty megawatts in the aggregate. The commissioner may direct the electric distribution companies to enter into power purchase agreements for energy, capacity and environmental attributes, or any combination thereof, for periods of not more than twenty years on behalf of all customers of the state's electric distribution companies. Any certificates issued by the New England Power Pool Generation Information System for any Class I renewable energy sources procured under this section may be: (1) Sold in the New England Power Pool Generation Information System renewable energy credit market to be used by any electric supplier or electric distribution company to meet the requirements of section 16-245a , provided the revenues from such sale are credited to all customers of the contracting electric distribution company; or (2) retained by the electric distribution company to meet the requirements of section 16-245a . In considering whether to sell or retain such certificates, the company shall select the option that is in the best interest of such company's ratepayers. Any such agreement shall be subject to review and approval by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, which review shall be completed not later than one hundred eighty days after the date on which such agreement is filed with the authority. The net costs of any such agreement, including costs incurred by the electric distribution companies under the agreement and reasonable costs incurred by the electric distribution companies in connection with the agreement, shall be recovered through a fully reconciling component of electric rates for all customers of electric distribution companies. All reasonable costs incurred by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection associated with the commissioner's solicitation and review of proposals pursuant to this section shall be recoverable through the nonbypassable, federally mandated congestion charges, as defined in section 16-1 .