Face the Facts: Wind and solar projects in Connecticut

Piece by piece, the Trump administration is changing the way the federal government considers clean energy projects. Subsidies are going away for electric vehicles.

Wind and solar projects are losing federal funding that were in place during the Biden administration.

So how is all this going to affect Connecticut?

NBC Connecticut’s Mike Hydeck spoke with DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes, who gave an explanation on how Connecticut is going to press ahead.

Mike Hydeck: So first thing, zero emissions goal for our state is 2050. With all the changes in federal funding, is that still possible? I mean, it’s still a while away.

Katie Dykes: Actually 2040. It’s just around the corner, but that said, we’ve been investing for many years in zero emission resources, including investing in keeping the Millstone nuclear facility around. That’s an enormous contributor to helping us meet that 100% clean supply.

Mike Hydeck: That was a controversial deal. Some people weren’t very happy about that.

Katie Dykes: That’s true, but we saved more than $2 billion by ensuring that that facility could keep going so we wouldn’t have to replace it with other possibly dirtier sources of power. So in the long run, it’s been a really good investment. But in addition, we know that investments in offshore wind and solar and energy efficiency have really been contributing to help keep keep our grid affordable and help to achieve that zero carbon supply.

Mike Hydeck: So the offshore wind projects coming and going, right? So we have the one in Bridgeport that disappeared. We have the, you know, the other one, it’s great that we still have.

Katie Dykes: So we actually have the Revolution Wind project and also a Vineyard Wind project that’s backstopped by Massachusetts are under construction right now. If you go down to New London, the state pier is busy as they’re deploying turbines. Together those projects, which are expected to come online next year, at pretty affordable prices, because we locked in those prices before the pandemic. They’re going to be supplying about a 5% additional supply of energy to New England.

Mike Hydeck: So it’s clean energy, but people are concerned about prices, and the concern of wind power in the beginning and because it’s a nascent industry by comparison, that it’s going to be more expensive.

Katie Dykes: Sure. These are projects that, again, we locked in this pricing before the pandemic, so it’s pretty competitive. It was more for newer projects coming online recently that we were seeing those prices starting to go up. But at the same time, we’ve been investing in solar. That’s been another really important resource. We see the importance of solar from an affordability and reliability perspective, helping our grid. Just this summer, as we’ve seen, you know, really hot, hot weather conditions, we’ve seen, you know, like 2,000 megawatts of solar operating at those hot peak afternoon times when everybody’s AC is cranking. And that’s really provided a lot of benefit in terms of avoiding having to turn on more expensive generation resources that produce air pollution.

Mike Hydeck: So let’s jump into solar. So one of the things that’s been happening previous, up until now, some people are fighting back against solar projects. There’s one in Ansonia that’s in a lawsuit. Farmers protested in another town because they didn’t want their solar field expanded. You unveiled a new tool on how to try to be more transparent about how these projects are considered, what is it?

Katie Dykes: Right. So we have debuted this tool called the Community Renewable Energy Eiting Tool, or CREST. And this is a GIS map based tool to help us locate…

Mike Hydeck: And GIS stands for?

Katie Dykes: Geographic Information Systems. But think of it as your Google Maps or Google Earth for really being able to drill down and help developers who want to propose these projects, but also municipalities and stakeholders try to figure out where is the best place to put more solar that will minimize the types of conflicts with other things we care about, like protecting core forests and protecting farmland, but also making sure that the facility is in a location where it’s going to be able to plug in the grid relatively inexpensively. It’s the sweet spot that we’re looking for and and certainly we’ve seen, you know, that some projects have encountered some resistance. I think there have been a lot of lessons learned over time, but every developer I talk to, they want to avoid conflict as much as possible, because conflict adds to delay and adds to cost, and so we are excited about having this tool. So from the very beginning, we can help developers identify those places where they’re going to be most welcomed and encounter the least amount of challenges.

Mike Hydeck: Now with credits going away, are you going to have a hard time finding developers to do these projects? Because if federal money goes away, then the state money starts to dwindle faster. Then what?

Katie Dykes: You bet. I mean, it’s no secret the Trump administration has been singling out renewables like solar and wind to prevent them from being able to access federal tax credits that can help them, helping them maintain cost competitiveness. So DEEP has been working, you know, urgently to try to make sure we’re doing everything that we can to help those projects that are already in the pipeline, make sure that they have the best chance to qualify before the tax credits go away. We hosted a webinar a week and a half ago to explore whether we should do a rapid RFP to contract for resources that may be eligible, as well as look at how we can streamline, make sure that those who are waiting on permits, that we can expedite the permitting process and just do everything we can, because that helps get these projects that were already under construction not be impacted by the whiplash that’s occurring at the federal level.

Mike Hydeck: At least, gets finished, right?

Katie Dykes: You bet, and then in the longer term, of course, once the tax credits are going away, reducing some of those costs that are added when you have conflict at the local level and opposition, you know, from a project that’s sited in a poorly chosen location. You know, if we can minimize those conflicts, we can actually save on the cost of the project,

Mike Hydeck: Right, because it’s not spending more money just to try to get the project finished. So last question, moving forward, if all this federal money goes away, you know, we pay some of the highest rates for electric in the country. Do you expect that rate payers are gonna have to pick up part of the tab if that federal money goes away and the state money dwindles?

Katie Dykes: That’s definitely a huge concern, not just here in Connecticut, but across the country. Look, we’re, right now, not unique to New England, we’re seeing states in every region are struggling with how to, we’re seeing the demand for electricity is really increasing from data centers.

Mike Hydeck: AI data centers. Charging stations if we build that out.

Katie Dykes: Exactly. And so everyone’s looking for how we can grow more supply. And that’s why, I think, notwithstanding the rhetoric in Washington, you hear Governor Lamont and other leaders calling for an all the above approach. We shouldn’t be canceling out certain types of resources, like solar and wind. We need all of these different resources to be available so that we can meet that supply and support our growing economy at an affordable price.