Sec. 16a-7c. Request for proposal: Solicitation, submission, evaluation, report, net energy analysis.
Sec. 16a-7c. Request for proposal: Solicitation, submission, evaluation, report, net energy analysis. (a) Not later than fifteen days after receiving information
pursuant to subsection (e) of section 16-50l, the Connecticut Energy Advisory Board
shall publish such information in one or more newspapers or periodicals, as selected by
the board.
(b) On or after December 1, 2004, not later than fifteen days after the filing of an
application pursuant to subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 16-50i, except for
an application for a facility described in subdivision (5) or (6) of subsection (a) of section
16-50i, the Connecticut Energy Advisory Board shall issue a request for proposal to
seek alternative solutions to the need that will be addressed by the proposed facility in
such application. Such request for proposal shall, where relevant, solicit proposals that
include distributed generation or energy efficiency measures. The board shall publish
such request for proposal in one or more newspapers or periodicals, as selected by the
board. Any facility generating not more than five megawatts and any electric transmission line, electric generation facility or electric substation otherwise constituting a facility as described in subsection (a) of section 16-50i that, as part of the proceeding conducted pursuant to section 8 of public act 07-242* and in accordance with this subsection,
shall be determined by the Connecticut Siting Council and the Department of Public
Utility Control to be required for the reliability of electric supply to critical national
defense and homeland security infrastructure shall be exempt from the request for proposal process described in this subsection and exempt from the municipal participation
fee requirements of subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 16-50l. Such determination shall be made on or before December 31, 2007. Notwithstanding the provisions of
this subsection, the board, by a vote of two-thirds of the members present and voting, may
determine that a request for proposal is unnecessary for a specific application because the
process is not likely to result in a reasonable alternative to the proposed facility. On
or before December 1, 2007, after seeking public comment, the board shall approve
additional criteria for considering whether a request for proposal process should not be
required for a specific application. Any determination that a request for proposal is not
required shall include the board's reasons for such determination.
(c) The board may issue a request for proposal for solutions to a need for new energy
resources, new energy transmission facilities in the state, and new energy conservation
initiatives in the state identified in regional energy system planning processes conducted
by the regional independent system operator, as defined in section 16-1. Such request
for proposal shall, where relevant, solicit proposals that include distributed generation
or energy efficiency measures. The board shall publish such request for proposal in one
or more newspapers or periodicals, as selected by the board.
(d) Not later than sixty days after the first date of publication of a request for proposal, a person or any legal entity may submit a proposal by filing with the board information as such person or entity may consider relevant to such proposal. The board may
request further information from the person or entity that it deems necessary to evaluate
the proposal pursuant to subsection (f) of this section.
(e) Upon the submission of a proposal pursuant to a request for proposal, the person
or entity submitting the proposal shall consult with the municipality in which the facility
may be located and with any other municipality that would be required to be served
with a copy of an application for such proposal under subdivision (1) of subsection (b)
of section 16-50l concerning the proposed and alternative sites of the facility. Such
consultation with the municipality shall include, but not be limited to, good faith efforts
to meet with the chief elected official of the municipality. At the time of the consultation,
the person or entity submitting the proposal shall provide the chief elected official with
any technical reports concerning the public need, the site selection process and the
environmental effects of the proposed facility. The municipality may conduct public
hearings and meetings as it deems necessary for it to advise the person or entity submitting the proposal of its recommendations concerning the proposed facility. Within sixty
days of the initial consultation, the municipality shall issue its recommendations to the
person or entity submitting the proposal. If a person or entity chooses to file an application pursuant to subdivision (3) of subsection (a) of section 16-50l, then such person or
entity shall provide to the Connecticut Siting Council a summary of the consultations
with the municipality, including all recommendations issued by the municipality. A
person or entity that has complied with this subsection shall be exempt from the provisions of subsection (e) of section 16-50l.
(f) Not later than forty-five days after the deadline for submissions in response to
a request for proposal, the board shall issue a report that evaluates each proposal received,
including any proposal contained in an application to the council that initiated a request
for proposal, based on the materials received pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, or
information contained in the application, as required by section 16-50l, for conformance
with the infrastructure criteria guidelines created pursuant to section 6a-7b. The board
shall forward the results of such evaluation process to the Connecticut Siting Council.
(g) When evaluating submissions pursuant to subsection (f) of this section for a
generation facility described in subdivision (3) of subsection (a) of section 16-50i that
are in excess of sixty-five megawatts, the board shall perform a net energy analysis for
each proposal. Such analysis shall include calculations of all embodied energy requirements used in the materials for initial construction of the facility over its projected useful
lifetime. The analysis shall be expressed in a dimensionless unit as an energy profit
ratio of energy generated by the facility to the calculated net energy expended in plant
construction, maintenance and total fuel cycle energy requirements over the projected
useful lifetime of the facility. The boundary for both the net energy calculations of the
fuel cycle and materials for the facility construction and maintenance shall both be at
the point of primary material extraction and include the energy consumed through the
entire supply chain to final, but not be limited to, such subsequent steps as transportation,
refinement and energy for delivery to the end consumer. The results of said net energy
analysis shall be included in the results forwarded to the Connecticut Siting Council
pursuant to subsection (f) of this section. For purposes of this subsection, "facility net
energy" means the heat energy delivered by the facility contained in a fuel minus the
life cycle energy used to produce the facility. "Fuel net energy" means the heat energy
contained in a fuel minus the energy used to extract the fuel from the environment,
refine it to a socially useful state and deliver it to consumers, and "embodied energy"
means the total energy used to build and maintain a process, expressed in calorie equivalents of one type of energy.
(P.A. 03-140, S. 19; P.A. 07-242, S. 54; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-4, S. 117.)
*Note: Section 8 of public act 07-242 is special in nature and therefore has not been codified but remains in full force
and effect according to its terms.
History: P.A. 03-140 effective October 1, 2004; P.A. 07-242 amended Subsec. (b) to exempt certain facilities deemed
required for reliability of electric supply to critical national defense and homeland security infrastructure from request for
proposal process and from municipal participation fee requirements of Sec. 16-50l(a)(1), deleted reference to comprehensive energy report in Subsec. (c) and added Subsec. (g) re performing net energy analysis for facilities in excess of 65
megawatts, effective July 1, 2007; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-4 amended Subsec. (g) to specify applicability to "generation"
facilities, effective July 1, 2007.