Conn. Gen. Stat. § 16-50i (2026)

(a) “Facility” means: (1) An electric transmission line of a design capacity of sixty-nine kilovolts or more, including associated equipment but not including a transmission line tap, as defined in subsection (e) of this section; (2) a fuel transmission facility, except a gas transmission line having a design capability of less than two hundred pounds per square inch gauge pressure or having a design capacity of less than twenty per cent of its specified minimum yield strength; (3) any electric generating or storage facility using any fuel, including nuclear materials, including associated equipment for furnishing electricity but not including an emergency generating device, as defined in subsection (f) of this section or a facility (A) owned and operated by a private power producer, as defined in section 16-243b, (B) which is a qualifying small power production facility or a qualifying cogeneration facility under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, as amended, or a facility determined by the council to be primarily for a producer's own use, and (C) which has, in the case of a facility utilizing renewable energy sources, a generating capacity of one megawatt of electricity or less and, in the case of a facility utilizing cogeneration technology, a generating capacity of twenty-five megawatts of electricity or less; (4) any electric substation or switchyard designed to change or regulate the voltage of electricity at sixty-nine kilovolts or more or to connect two or more electric circuits at such voltage, which substation or switchyard may have a substantial adverse environmental effect, as determined by the council established under section 16-50j, and other facilities which may have a substantial adverse environmental effect as the council may, by regulation, prescribe; (5) such community antenna television towers and head-end structures, including associated equipment, which may have a substantial adverse environmental effect, as said council shall, by regulation, prescribe; and (6) such telecommunication towers, including associated telecommunications equipment, owned or operated by the state, a public service company or a certified telecommunications provider or used in a cellular system, as defined in the Code of Federal Regulations Title 47, Part 22, as amended, which may have a substantial adverse environmental effect, as said council shall, by regulation, prescribe;

(b) “Municipality” means a city, town or borough of the state and “municipal” has a correlative meaning;

(c) “Person” means any individual, corporation, limited liability company, joint venture, public benefit corporation, political subdivision, governmental agency or authority, municipality, partnership, association, trust or estate and any other entity, public or private, however organized;

(d) “Modification” means a significant change or alteration in the general physical characteristics of a facility, including any change or alteration that requires the exercise of any right of eminent domain or that expands any existing easement;

(e) “Transmission line tap” means an electrical transmission line not requested by an applicant to be treated as a facility that has the primary function, as determined by the council, of interconnecting a private power producing or cogeneration facility to the electrical power grid serving the state, and does not have a substantial adverse environmental effect, as determined by the council based on a review of the line's proposed purpose, the line's proposed length, the number and type of support structures, the number of manholes required for the proposed line, the necessity of entering a right-of-way including any easements or land acquisition for any construction or maintenance on the proposed line, and any other environmental, health or public safety factor considered relevant by the council;

(f) “Emergency generating device” means an electric generating device with a generating capacity of five megawatts or less, installed primarily for the purpose of producing emergency backup electrical power for not more than five hundred hours per year, and that (1) does not have a substantial adverse environmental effect, as determined by the council, or (2) is owned and operated by an entity other than an electric distribution or gas company, or (3) is under construction or in operation prior to May 2, 1989.

(1971, P.A. 575, S. 3; P.A. 73-41, S. 1, 2; 73-458, S. 1; P.A. 76-317, S. 1, 2; P.A. 77-218, S. 2; P.A. 79-214, S. 3; 79-470; P.A. 80-81; P.A. 81-439, S. 4, 14; P.A. 83-569, S. 2, 17; P.A. 84-249, S. 1, 3; P.A. 86-336, S. 7, 19; P.A. 89-61, S. 1, 2; P.A. 94-74, S. 6, 11; P.A. 95-79, S. 50, 189; P.A. 98-28, S. 99, 117; P.A. 99-286, S. 8, 19; P.A. 03-140, S. 2, 3; P.A. 05-288, S. 236; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 05-1, S. 24; P.A. 14-94, S. 22; 14-134, S. 70; P.A. 24-144, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 73-41 included gas transmission lines with design capability of 200 pounds per square inch gauge pressure or more in definition of “facility”; P.A. 73-458 added “which may have a substantial adverse environmental effect” in Subdiv. (4) of definition of “facility” and defined “modification”; P.A. 76-317 deleted references to length of lines in Subdivs. (1) and (2) of “facility” definition and rewording provision re pressure of gas transmission lines; P.A. 77-218 added Subdivs. (5) and (6) re community antenna television and telecommunications towers in definition of “facility”; P.A. 79-214 excluded facilities producing one or less megawatt of electricity by cogeneration technology from definition of “facility”; P.A. 79-470 changed height limit for telecommunications towers from 100 to 50 feet in Subdiv. (6) of “facility” definition; P.A. 80-81 deleted reference to tower height in Subdiv. (6) of “facility” definition altogether and included reference to associated equipment; P.A. 81-439 excluded cogeneration facility having capacity of ten megawatts, rather than one megawatt, from definition of facility and limited exclusion to cogeneration and renewable energy facilities owned and operated by private power producers and qualifying under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978; P.A. 83-569 redefined “facility” to include certain substations and switchyards; P.A. 84-249 amended Subsec. (a)(6) to include telecommunication towers used in a cellular system in the definition of “facility”; P.A. 86-336 amended Subsec. (a)(3)(iii) to increase, from 10 to 25 megawatts of electricity, the maximum generating capacity which a facility utilizing cogeneration technology must have in order to be excluded from definition of “facility”; P.A. 89-61 added provisions in Subsec. (a) eliminating transmissions line taps and emergency generating devices from the jurisdiction of the council and added new Subsecs. (e) and (f) defining a transmission line tap and an emergency generating device; P.A. 94-74 redefined “facility” to include provision re persons, firms or corporations certified to provide intrastate telecommunication services, effective July 1, 1994; P.A. 95-79 redefined “person” to include a limited liability company, effective May 31, 1995; P.A. 98-28 amended Subsec. (f) by adding electric distribution companies, effective July 1, 1998; P.A. 99-286 amended Subsec. (a)(6) by changing reference to person, firm or corporation certified by the department to “certified telecommunications provider”, effective July 19, 1999; P.A. 03-140 amended Subsec. (a) to make a technical change and to add Subdiv. (7) re any component of a proposal submitted pursuant to the request-for-proposal process, and added new Subsec. (g) defining “request-for-proposal process”, effective October 1, 2004; P.A. 05-288, effective July 13, 2005, and June Sp. Sess. P.A. 05-1, effective July 21, 2005, both amended Subsec. (a)(2) by adding “or having a design capacity of less than twenty per cent of its specified minimum yield strength”; P.A. 14-94 amended Subsec. (a) by deleting former Subdiv. (7) re the request for proposal process and making technical changes, and deleted former Subsec. (g) re definition of “request for proposal process”, effective June 6, 2014; P.A. 14-134 amended Subsec. (f) by deleting reference to electric company and making a technical change, effective June 6, 2014; P.A. 24-144 redefined “modification” in Subsec. (d).

See Sec. 53a-261a re location of an offense committed by means of communication transmitted by use of a cellular system.

Cited. 212 C. 157. The term “facility” in Subsec. (a)(3) includes any electric generating facility in the ordinary sense of that phrase, and the phrase “using any fuel, including nuclear materials”, was merely intended to ensure that all electric generating facilities would be included in the scope of the Public Utility Environmental Standards Act regardless of the type of fuel a facility used, and does not exclude a facility with wind turbines rather than fuel. 313 C. 669.

Cited. 20 CA 474; 21 CA 85.

Cited. 35 CS 303.