Hartford Business Journal

14 Hartford Business Journal • February 8, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK Developers pitch five, 240MW CT clean energy projects By Matt Pilon mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com C onnecticut may soon source more of its clean energy from within its own borders, if newly proposed projects are successful in a unique and ongoing multi-state bidding process. A joint procurement by Connecticut, Mas- sachusetts and Rhode Island — the first of its kind for the states — garnered 24 bids from developers and companies for solar, wind, fuel cell and hydro projects, including five offering power that would be generated in Connecticut. "This is good news for Connecticut's ratepayers and signals the very real poten- tial for us to deliver a cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable energy future for residents and businesses of our state," said Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Com- missioner Rob Klee, whose agency oversaw Connecticut's participation in the bidding process. The RFP, authorized by a 2015 state law, could result in ground-mounted solar instal- lations that are four to eight times larger than the biggest existing facilities in Connecti- cut. It could also boost an already approved 63.3-megawatt fuel cell park in Beacon Falls — which would be not only the largest in Con- necticut, but in the world. The proposals are a response to the scale of the RFP, which is Connecticut's largest ever for renewables, and requires a minimum proj- ect size of 20 megawatts to qualify. The three states teamed up to see if they could attract better pricing together than on their own. Pricing data was redacted from the bid documents posted online last week. DEEP Deputy Commissioner Katie Scharf Dykes said she couldn't yet comment on the bid pricing or whether the buying-power strategy will work. "The scale and scope of this suggest there's a lot of potential out there," Scharf Dykes said. "Some of the proposals are larger than what we've seen respond to previous RFPs." DEEP seeks to broker power purchase agreements between utilities and generators that total as much as 4,250 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year. That's enough to power nearly 506,000 average Connecticut house- hold utility customers for a year, out of a total 1.37 million households statewide. CT projects The bids contain 240 megawatts of clean energy that would be generated in Connecti- cut from projects that are not yet built. The largest proposal is the Beacon Falls Energy Park, approved last month by the Con- necticut Siting Council. The park would use fuel cells from Danbury's FuelCell Energy and be the biggest in the world. Owned by Tor- rington's O&G Industries, Beacon Falls Energy Park was the sole fuel cell bidder in the RFP. The remaining four in-state projects are photovoltaic, including a 26-megawatt solar installation off Hopmeadow Street in Simsbury, submitted by Rhode Island-based Deepwater Wind, which is a major off-shore wind developer whose portfolio includes a 30-megawatt wind farm on Block Island that is expected to be operational this year. The project would be housed on a 200- acre parcel near the International Skating Center. Local permits had not yet been received as of press time last week, a Sims- bury official said. The largest solar bid pledges 44 mega- watts, located in North Stonington, less than two miles from Foxwoods Resort Casino. The bidder on the $54.6 million project is German energy company IB Vogt and Rhode Island's Energy Development Partners. Meanwhile, Maine-based Ranger Solar submitted a bid to sell power from two pro- posed solar installations in Connecticut — 20 megawatts straddling Enfield and Somers and 50 megawatts straddling Brooklyn and Canterbury. All bids redacted pricing and other competitive information. Colorado-based RES Americas and Massachusetts-based Ameresco have each proposed building 20 megawatts, in Pomfret and New Milford, respectively. The bids, for the first time, also include related transmission projects, like Ever- source's Northern Pass, which seeks to deliv- er hydropower from Quebec to New England. Eversource spokeswoman Lauren Col- lins said if the Northern Pass bid is select- ed, it would be among the first delivery commitments secured by the proposed 192-mile line. "I think the response to this RFP shows that there's great interest in developing renewable energy projects in New England and certainly a prospect like this is a good incentive to get a lot of those projects off the ground," Collins said. The largest bids overall came from major wind players, many of which proposed bun- dling the power — and sometimes new transmission — from several projects in Maine and elsewhere. The companies include Nextera, EDP Renewables, SunEdi- son and Iberdrola, which recently acquired United Illuminating parent UIL Holdings. Overall, the bids total several thousand megawatts. Several bids contain power from the same wind farms, complicating a more precise calculation. Bidders are hoping to win power pur- chase agreements (PPAs) with utility com- panies, which for many would make projects financially viable. DEEP expects to select winning bidders between April 26 and July 26. Power purchase contracts and regulatory approvals could take the process through year's end. It could take up to four years for some of the projects to come online. DEEP plans to issue two more RFPs this month, both of which are only for Connecti- cut. The first is for smaller-scale renewables up to 20 megawatts and the second is for natu- ral gas pipeline capacity, according to Dykes. In-state struggle To meet its environmental green goals, Connecticut has had to buy much of its renewable energy from biomass plants in New Hampshire and Vermont, and wind from Maine. That means other New England states have reaped more of the economic benefits of construction and taxes. In 2010, in-state renewables com- prised just 11 percent of the state's overall renewables procurement. There has been progress since then. Residential and com- mercial incentives and the evolution of the Connecticut Green Bank — which leverages private financing to spur renewable projects — helped contribute to a 10-fold increase in in-state renewables between 2010 and 2014, according to DEEP. The agency is slowly phasing down rate- payer investments in dirtier biomass plants over the next decade. Connecticut is the third smallest state by area, but has the fourth highest popula- tion density, making it difficult to site large wind projects, as evidenced by the multi- year legal battle that eventually led to the approval of several turbines in Colebrook — the first commercial wind farm in the state. Gov. Dannel Malloy pledged in Decem- ber that Connecticut would reduce its green- house gas emissions by as much as 95 per- cent below 1990 levels by 2050. The state's Renewable Portfolio Stan- dard, created in 1998, has spurred develop- ment, mandating that utilities and suppliers purchase an increasing amount of their elec- tric load from renewable sources. n P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D S. Korea has the world's largest fuel cell park (59 megawatts, shown above) that uses cells from Danbury-based FuelCell Energy. A Connecticut developer is working with FuelCell to build a slightly larger park in Beacon Falls. Stilts Building owner pursues parking, shared-office ventures Owners of downtown Hartford's Stilts Building and LAZ Parking are teaming up to expand surface-parking options for the 20 Church St. office tower's tenants and others. Benjamin Schlossberg, a managing member in Shelbourne Global Solutions LLC, owner of 20 Church St./Stilts, said Shelbourne and LAZ formed a strategic partnership to acquire and operate the surface lot across the street, at 1000 Main St. That parcel also just happens to over- look the minor-league baseball stadium under construction. Financial terms weren't disclosed. The goal, Schlossberg said, is more park- ing for Stilts' tenants in addition to the build- ing's on-site garage spaces. The partnership also expands Shelbourne's realty holdings in the central business district, he said. More parking for 20 Church tenants is necessary, Schlossberg said, because Shel- bourne intends to launch in the second quarter of this year a "shared co-working office space'' concept modeled closely after WeWork Companies Inc. and other U.S. office-sharing ventures. The shared-work spaces would occupy space that once housed broadcast and other operations for WTIC-TV Channel 61, now located at 285 Broad St. Other partners eventually will be involved in the Hartford shared-office venture, but Schlossberg declined to identify them. LAZ founder-CEO Alan Lazowski did not respond to a request for comment. Shelbourne acquired a majority stake in 20 Church, and later purchased the nearby 100 Pearl St. office tower for around $81 million. – Gregory Seay 777 Main owner appeals $474,425 MDC bill The landlord-owner of the converted office-to-apartments tower 777 Main St. in downtown Hartford is asking a state court to revoke a $474,425 extra assessment imposed by the regional water-sewer provider. Fairfield architect-developer Bruce Becker filed his appeal in Hartford Superior Court on Jan. 12, weeks after The Metropolitan District Commission in December upheld its assess- ment bills of $1,655 for each of 777 Main's 285 apartment units, court papers show. MDC said it will "vigorously defend'' its 1995 ordinance that any building in its ser- vice territory that is converted to a new or expanded use is subject to the water-sewer connection assessment. In his appeal, Becker continues to insist that nothing about the conversion of the former regional offices for Bank of America constitut- ed "new construction,'' which he interprets as the sole basis for imposing the assessment. Becker, who declined comment beyond his filing, also insists in court papers that MDC's assessment violates the "fair and reasonable'' standards set forth under Connecticut statutes. – Gregory Seay LAZ Parking's Main Street parking lot downtown. H B J P H O T O | G R E G O R Y S E A Y

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