Shared Clean Energy Facility Pilot Program
What is a Shared Clean Energy Facility?
Typically, residents or businesses can choose to invest in, or lease, a renewable energy system installation on the rooftops of their homes or businesses, or on their properties. However, some Connecticut residents and businesses are either not able to, or elect not to, invest in or lease an individual property installation for a variety of reasons (e.g., high installation costs, unsuitable rooftop orientation, shaded property, or because they rent instead of own their properties). Subscription to a shared clean energy facility (SCEF) provides an option that can be used to overcome such barriers, thereby expanding access to renewable energy to more households and businesses in the state. A SCEF enables multiple customers to benefit directly from that facility's energy production.
Typically, residents or businesses can choose to invest in, or lease, a renewable energy system installation on the rooftops of their homes or businesses, or on their properties. However, some Connecticut residents and businesses are either not able to, or elect not to, invest in or lease an individual property installation for a variety of reasons (e.g., high installation costs, unsuitable rooftop orientation, shaded property, or because they rent instead of own their properties). Subscription to a shared clean energy facility (SCEF) provides an option that can be used to overcome such barriers, thereby expanding access to renewable energy to more households and businesses in the state. A SCEF enables multiple customers to benefit directly from that facility's energy production.
What is the Shared Clean Energy Facility Pilot Program?
The Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP), in consultation with Eversource Energy (Eversource) and The United Illuminating Company (UI), established the SCEF Pilot Program in response to Public Act 15-113, An Act Establishing a Shared Clean Energy Facility Pilot Program, as amended by Public Act 16-116, An Act Concerning the Shared Clean Energy Facility Pilot Program, as a two-year initiative to support the development of SCEFs in Connecticut. The SCEF Pilot Program was designed with specific policy objectives, including:
- Expanding clean energy deployment;
- Promoting equitable participation by increasing access to clean energy for low- to moderate-income customers;
- Optimizing the positive re-use of sites with limited alternative uses; and
- Supporting economic development opportunities, and minimizing the cost to electric ratepayers.
A project participating in the SCEF Pilot Program is a qualified Class I renewable energy source that:
- Is served by an electric distribution company (EDC), either Eversource Energy (Eversource) or The United Illuminating Company (United Illuminating);
- Is within the same EDC service territory as the individual billing meters of its subscribers;
- Is 100kW - 2MW in size; and
- Has a minimum of ten subscribers.
The SCEF Pilot Program is expected to provide a greater understanding of how well the program is subscribed, how the subscriber organizations, subscribers, and EDCs interact, and the siting of these facilities. On June 29, 2018, DEEP issued a report entitled, Report to the Energy and Technology Committee on the Shared Clean Energy Facilities Pilot Program, which provides its initial analysis of the SCEF pilot program.
Which projects have been selected to participate in the SCEF Pilot Program?
DEEP has selected the following three projects via a competitive bidding process under a Request for Proposals.
Town of Bloomfield Community Solar Program
Operational status: achieved commercial operation on August 20, 2019
Subscriber Organization: Clean Energy Collective, LLC
Class I type/nameplate capacity: Solar, 1.62MW
Location: Bloomfield, CT
Electric Distribution Company: Eversource
USS Shelton SCEF
Operational status: pending; expected in-service date, December 31, 2020
Subscriber Organization: United States Solar Corporation
Class I type/nameplate capacity: Solar, 1.6MW
Location: Shelton, CT
Electric Distribution Company: United Illuminating
Riverside Thompson SCEF
Operational status: pending
Subscriber Organization: CHIP Fund 5, LLC
Class I type/nameplate capacity: Solar, 2.0MW
Location: Thompson, CT
Electric Distribution Company: Eversource
Who are the participants in the SCEF Pilot Program?
The SCEF Pilot Program enables customers to share in the support of small-scale Class I renewable energy sources in Connecticut by subscribing to allotments of energy generated by SCEFs and exported to the electricity grid. The participants are:
- The Subscriber is an electricity customer with an active account assigned to an individual billing meter with either Eversource or UI, and has signed onto a subscriber agreement with the subscriber organization of participating SCEF located in the same service territory as the individual billing meter.
- The Subscriber Organization owns and/or operates a SCEF for the benefit of subscribers.
- The Electric Distribution Company, Eversource or UI, purchases the energy generated and exported to electricity grid, as well as the renewable energy credits (RECs) generated by the SCEF or SCEFs, in its service territory.
How does a subscriber benefit directly from the energy produced by the SCEF?
The SCEF Pilot Program requires the monetary value of the subscribed energy and associated RECs generated by a SCEF to initially flow through the SCEF subscribers' electric bills as on-bill credits. Each subscriber's monthly electric bill from the EDC will include an on-bill credit representing the value of the subscribed energy allotment (e.g., at an on-bill credit rate of $0.17/kWh). Most of that on-bill credit must be passed through, by the subscriber to the subscriber organization, as the subscription payment (e.g., at a subscription payment rate of $0.15/kWh). The remaining difference between the on-bill credit and the subscription fee is the subscriber savings (e.g., at a subscriber savings rate of $0.02/kWh), which is retained on the subscriber's account and is used to reduce the subscriber's electric bill.
What rules are in place to protect subscribers and prospective subscribers?
As required by the Act, DEEP has established Consumer Protection Rules for the SCEF Pilot Program to provide certain terms, disclosures, and other provisions applicable to interactions and transactions by and between a subscriber organization or its agent, a customer of an EDC, and/or a subscriber or a prospective subscriber of a selected SCEF project.
Content last updated on January 16, 2020