Solar power in Connecticut

Solar break-even cost

Solar power in Connecticut makes Connecticut the second state in the USA to reach grid parity, after Hawaii, due to the high average cost of electricity.[1] Installing solar panels for a home provides an estimated 15.6% return on investment.[2]

CT Solar Lease was a program to install solar panels at no upfront cost, and a fixed lease price for 15 years, with an option to extend the lease for 5 years at a reduced cost. CT Solar Lease owns and sells the RECs generated by the system, but turns over all but $15/REC plus 100% of the sale over $30 or 50% of the sale of the REC up to $30/REC to the homeowner in a Solar Dividends account for maintenance and to allow the purchase of the system at the end of the lease. RECs have been selling for from $18 to $24 each. Applications ended on August 19, 2011.[3]

Regulations

Connecticut's renewable portfolio standard requires 7% of power in the state will be from renewable resources by 2010, and 23% by 2020.[4] A bill passed in 2011 requires incentives that will produce at least 30 MW of new residential PV installed by the end of 2022.[5] Net metering is available for all up to 2 MW sites, and is reconciled annually at either the avoided cost or the time of use/generation rate, which is higher but requires time of use metering.[6]

Statistics

Average solar insolation

Potential generation

The average insolation in Connecticut is about 4 sun hours per day, and ranges from less than 2 in the winter to over 5 in the summer.[7]

Connecticut electricity consumption in 2005 was 33,095 million kWh.[8]

Installed capacity

Connecticut Grid-Connected PV Capacity (MW)[9][10][11][12][13]
Year Capacity Installed % Change
2008 8.8 6.0 214%
2009 19.7 10.9 124%
2010 24.6 4.9 25%
2011 31.1 4.5 26%
2012 39.6 7.5 24%
2013 77.1 37.5 95%
2014 118.8 41.7 54%
2015 219 91 71%

See also

References

  1. Exhibit 3
  2. Solar Power Rocks
  3. CT Solar Lease
  4. Renewable Energy
  5. Brief Summary of SB 1243
  6. Financial Incentives
  7. Solar Insolation Levels In North America
  8. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (25 June 2008). "Electric Power and Renewable Energy in Connecticut". United States Department of Energy. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  9. Sherwood, Larry (July 2010). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2009" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  10. Sherwood, Larry (July 2012). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2012" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 16. Retrieved 2013-10-11.
  11. Sherwood, Larry (July 2014). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2013" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved 2014-07-27.
  12. "final_2015_pv_forecast.pdf" (PDF).
  13. Connecticut Solar
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 4/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.