The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) revealed a 60% increase in incentives for solar thermal this week, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This is very good news for homeowners, businesses, and non-profits in Connecticut because it cuts the payback of a solar thermal installation to 6 to 10 years.
A solar thermal system uses energy from the sun to heat water used in a home or pool, or for heating the home itself. A solar thermal system is a closed-loop system where a liquid such as glycol circulates through the collector on the roof. As it circulates, the sun is beating down on the collector and warming the liquid flowing through it. The heated liquid then flows to the home’s hot water heater and transfers its heat energy to the water in the heater. This is essentially heating the water for free, rather than paying for electricity or gas to heat up the water. A business or home can slash about 80% of its hot water needs through this process.
For the purposes of the Connecticut solar thermal program, only solar domestic hot water (DHW) heating systems are eligible; the subsidy cannot be used for space heating or pool heating. It is also a performance-based incentive to encourage installations that maximize system output in winter months. Therefore, the incentive is based on predicted output of (in millions of Btus) for time period between October and March. The size of residential incentives is also related to the number of persons or bedrooms in the household. CCEF has estimated the average incentive for residential installations will be $275 per MMBtu, commercial installations will be $450 per MMBtu, and government and non-profit installations will be $550 per MMBtu.
The program is set to start in October and last approximately 32 months, ending in March 2012. At that time, the Connecticut solar thermal incentive program will be reevaluated to see if the program can be maintained through CCEF funding. Funding for the incentives comes from $4 million in ARRA stimulus funding. Connecticut hopes that this will contribute about 550 residential solar installations and 50 commercial solar installations.
“In addition to homeowners, the ideal candidates for solar thermal installations are establishments, such as hospitals, gyms, hotels and universities, that use large volumes of hot water,” said CCEF President Dale Hedman.
For more detail information on the Connecticut Solar Thermal Incentive Program, please refer to this data sheet. Only approved CCEF solar thermal installers will be eligible to participate in this program.
Pingback: Tweets that mention Connecticut Increases Solar Thermal Incentives by 60% — BRIGHTSTAR SOLAR -- Topsy.com
This is great incentive, however, I would like to see it aggressively endorsed. Essentially, oil is used to make nearly every product in the world and with record profits, they certainly can afford to lower their prices. Unfortunately, people are insecure and selfish and they MUST have more money so they can buy materialistic garbage which they use to try to cover up their insecurities; they cannot be content with a normal house or an economical vehicle. Promoting the use of solar cells cuts into their profits and they sure cannot have that. If every home in the state had solar panels it would offset such high costs of oil and electricity, cut down on carbon emissions, and so on. Sadly, big companies like Cumberland Farms and Walgreens get to build new stores in small towns like my hometown, Deep River, yet Cumberland Farms doesn’t have any alternative fuel stations and Walgreens leaves their lights on all night long. Both of these companies could certainly afford to put solar cells on top of the buildings, as well, Walgreens’ store footprint is huge and it should absolutely have solar panels on the top. I’d like it to be a law, if they want to reap rewards from the demographics they should be required to be “green”. It makes me cringe, there is a Walgreens in Clinton, Westbrook and Old Saybrook, all on Route 1 and these 3 towns border each other. Deep River is two towns away from Saybrook, with another Walgreens store there. Between these 4 stores, they would have about a few square acres of solar panels which could generate a substantial amount of electricity which could go a long way. When are people going to get over their insecurities and put in some effort to help the less fortunate? Ever??