UI on Track to Double Investment in Non-Residential Renewable Energy in 2023
Program offers commercial customers opportunity to earn incentive money for generating renewable electricity, offsetting carbon emissions across customer base
New Request for Proposals (RFP) to open August 1 for commercial solar and renewable technology projects
ORANGE, Conn. — July 14, 2023 — Today, United Illuminating, a subsidiary of Avangrid (NYSE: AGR), announced that in the first half of 2023, the company approved 29 projects for the Non-Residential Renewable Energy Solutions (NRES) program, a commercial clean energy program that incentivizes commercial customers install solar projects and other renewable energy technologies. The projects approved in the first half of 2023 generate clean electricity to power the equivalent of over 1,500 homes for a year. Across all of 2022, the company approved 27 projects, putting UI on track to double its investment in renewable energy year-over-year.
“As the need to invest in renewable technology becomes increasingly urgent, I am proud that we at UI, in collaboration with our partners at DEEP and PURA, are implementing innovative solutions that are customer-focused and move the state closer to its important sustainability goals,” said Frank Reynolds, President & CEO of United Illuminating. “From increasing the capacity of the grid to reducing our carbon emissions, the challenges in the energy sector require an all-of-the-above approach. I am pleased our team has enthusiastically responded to that directive by working towards doubling UI’s investment in the non-residential renewable energy.”
NRES, a statewide program administered by the electric distribution companies, launched in 2022 as a six-year program to replace the Low and Zero Emission Renewable Energy Credit Program (“LREC/ZREC”). The program incentivizes low- and zero-emission projects, such as commercial solar and fuel cell technology, by either providing payments for the production of energy (“buy-all”) or offsetting the energy usage by the facility and crediting it for any additional energy produced (“netting tariff”) over 20-year agreements. This year, UI can allocate 22 megawatts towards low and zero-emission projects, up from 12 megawatts in 2022.
“The NRES program is one of Connecticut’s most innovative solutions to increasing renewable energy capacity in our state,” said Christie Prescott, UI’s Director of the Wholesale Power Contracts department, which implements the NRES program. “I am proud of how far we have come in expanding the program in its second year, and along with my team, I look forward to reviewing new and innovative proposals from UI’s commercial customers when another competitive solicitation period opens in just a few weeks.”
NRES opens two competitive solicitation periods per year, the first on February 1 and the second opens on August 1. Following a successful February solicitation period, approximately 12 megawatts of capacity remains for period beginning on August 1. UI invites interested commercial customers located in its service territory to attend the Bidders Conference, an informational webinar on the NRES program, on August 8; the link to register for this conference can be found here. More information on the Bidders Conference and the NRES program is on the UI website, and customers can email specific questions to NRES@uinet.com.
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Media Contact:
Sarah Wall
swall@avangrid.com
757.407.4255