Connecticut’s Zero Emission Renewable Energy Credit Program Launched

Connecticut’s groundbreaking new solar incentive program, the Zero Emission Renewable Energy Credit Program – or ZREC Program - was formally launched yesterday by both Connecticut Light & Power (“CL&P”) and United Illuminating (“UI”).

We discussed the fundamentals of the ZREC Program in a prior blog, but the key benefit is that the Program provides solar system owners with a 15-year contractual revenue source which pays them a fixed price for every kilowatt-hour (“kWh”) of solar electricity generated, in addition to the savings on their electric bill. The ZREC cash payments and the monthly electricity bill savings are further compounded by substantial Federal solar incentives that can dramatically lower the upfront cost of commercial solar projects.

The ZREC Contracts are being offered via a competitive auction process, with separate CL&P and UI tranches for small (100kW and smaller), medium (>100kW and <250kW), and large (250kW to 1MW) solar projects. Final bids are due June 12, 2012. Although this is the first time the ZREC Auction is being offered in Connecticut, it is very similar to other state auction programs that PowerFlex has extensive experience with.At PowerFlex, we are keenly focused on eliminating unforeseen cash flow volatility for our clients in all of our commercial solar PV projects, and we believe the long-term ZREC mechanism provides the level of certainty required for prudent corporate entities to consider investing in large-scale solar projects.

Although many of our clients choose to directly purchase and own their commercial solar projects, other clients prefer to go solar under third-party arrangements such as Solar Leases or Power Purchase Agreements (“PPA’s”), which enable businesses to go solar and realize immediate monthly cash savings with NO upfront capital cost or investment.

Regardless of how your Connecticut business decides to go solar, the bottom-line is that the new ZREC Program offers a significant opportunity to pursue commercial solar projects on a highly economic basis. Please contact the PowerFlex team to learn more about how your business can benefit from the ZREC Program.