Connecticut to Offer Solar Hot Water Rebate

Thanks to federal stimulus money, the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) will soon launch a rebate program for solar thermal — or solar hot water — energy systems. By covering 20 percent of associated costs, the state aims to support the installation of 600 residential solar thermal systems and 100 commercial solar thermal systems. The Hartford Business Journal provides a quick and interesting Q&A with Dave Ljungquist, Associate Director of Project Development at CCEF:

HB: The program hopes to support approximately 600 residential and about 100 commercial domestic hot water applications. What’s the impact from taking those applications off the power grid?

DL: Although only about 30 percent of Connecticut’s homes use electric hot water heaters, the economics of using ST are significantly more favorable than for homes or businesses using gas or oil-fired heaters. Consequently, we would expect that more than 30 percent of the applicants will have electric hot water heat. If we assume 50 percent of the residential applicants have electric hot water heaters and 50 percent have either gas or oil, the residential market should account for an annual reduction of 1,159 MWh in electrical generation, and a reduction of 7,623 MMBtu in natural gas and oil consumption. We can assume that the commercial market will be largely oil- or natural gas-fired, so the savings from the commercial installations should be about 15,250 MMBtu (152,500 therms). This is equivalent to 109,700 gallons of fuel oil. The reduction in electrical energy consumption (from the electric hot water heating customers) will reduce fossil fuel consumption at the generating plants by another 10,500 MMBtu, so overall, the ST Program should reduce annual fossil fuel consumption in Connecticut by 33,373 MMBtu, or the equivalent of 240,000 gallons of fuel oil. These systems will avoid the creation of 2,686 tons of carbon dioxide very year, for the life of the systems.

Don’t fret if you didn’t follow the details. The main takeaways: (1) solar thermal (solar hot water) systems typically make more economic sense if they’ll be supplementing or replacing an electric water heater; (2) regardless of the previous points, solar thermal systems are among the most economical ways of heating domestic water; (3) the CCEF solar thermal program will lead to considerable fuel savings. The interview continues:

HB: Contractors marketing or developing solar thermal (ST) systems must be approved by the CCEF as a Solar Thermal Eligible Contractor to participate. How many certified contractors are there in Connecticut?

DL: CCEF has not approved any “eligible contractors” yet. A request for qualifications will be issued within a week to solicit applications, and we expect a quick response from a few companies that are currently installing ST systems in the state. We intend to have a list of “eligible contractors” available to the public when the program is officially launched. We recognize that the Connecticut labor pool is very low for the number of ST installations that we anticipate over the next 32 months. There are only 87 holders of the ST-1 license in Connecticut. However, only one ST-1 is required for each installation company, to supervise the journeymen installers (ST-2 license) and apprentices who will do most of the physical work. We expect the workforce to grow rapidly, as demand improves for solar thermal systems.

While CCEF is not yet accepting applications for the solar thermal (solar hot water) incentive program, they anticipate doing so starting August 1. Stay tuned for updates on the solar hot water installer bit. (In the meantime, feel free to browse our directory of qualified solar pros.)

Finally, in related news, new federal funding has also recently enabled CCEF to reinstate their popular solar panel rebate.