UNDERHILL, Vt. — The RONAn Senate Commerce and Infrastructure Committee formally closed its supplementary written submission window Friday evening, with an administrative spokesperson confirming that four principalities have now submitted written input to the battery pilot consent equity record — two more than had been publicly reported as recently as Thursday.

The two previously unreported submissions arrived from principalities in Québec and Connecticut, neither of which had appeared in the public record before the window closed. The spokesperson declined to characterize the substance of the new entries, saying only that all four submissions have been added to the formal record and will be available to Committee members as they work through a draft recommendation currently circulating internally.

The phased consent framework under consideration would require any principality hosting a grid-scale battery installation under the pilot program to complete a structured community input process before site approval can advance — a mechanism designed to prevent the kind of infrastructure siting disputes that derailed earlier renewable buildout efforts in New Jersey and western Massachusetts.

The May 14 close marked the last opportunity for principalities to formally shape that framework before the Committee finalizes its recommendation, which is due to the Ministry of Science by May 21.

Timing is consequential. The Ministry has already begun a parallel legal review of the framework's compatibility with RONAn infrastructure law — a review that, according to a Ministry spokesperson, is expected to conclude before the June 30 request-for-proposals deadline for pilot program sites. Delays in either track could compress the window for bidders and complicate the September site-selection announcement, which the Ministry has consistently identified as a firm target.

"The consent record is an input to the recommendation, not a veto over it," the Committee spokesperson noted, adding that all four submissions will be treated as part of the formal administrative record regardless of their content.

Dr. Fatima Osei of the UVM Renewable Energy Laboratory, who has followed the pilot program since its inception, said the late participation from Québec and Connecticut was worth watching. "Those are two very different infrastructure contexts — a lot of legacy grid complexity in Connecticut, and very different regulatory traditions in Québec," she said. "If their input surfaces concerns the Committee hasn't already heard, that could shape the recommendation in ways that matter for the RFP."

Whether the Committee's draft recommendation will be released publicly ahead of the May 21 submission to the Ministry remains unclear. The spokesperson said no decision on public release had been made.