Spotlight on Residential Solar in Connecticut webinars

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Webinar One: Residential Solar Investment and Deployment in Connecticut: An In-Depth Review of a 10-Year Incentive Program (2012-2022)

The first webinar in the multipart “Spotlight on Residential Solar in Connecticut” series, “Residential Solar Investment and Deployment in Connecticut: An In-Depth Review of a 10-Year Incentive Program (2012-2022),” provided an in-depth review of a residential solar incentive program administered by the Green Bank, including the market, policy, and practices that enabled 380 megawatts (MW) of residential solar deployment across nearly 50,000 rooftops, including low-to-moderate income families.

The series aligns with the opportunities created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund’s zero emissions technologies for low-income and disadvantaged communities, which will allow states, municipalities, tribes, and others to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other air pollutants, deliver benefits to low-income and disadvantaged communities, and mobilize financing and private capital to stimulate additional deployment of such projects.

Webinar Two: Financing Residential Solar in Connecticut #1: Insights into Loan Programs

The second webinar in the series focused on the role of financing, delving deeper into the structure and benefits of two loan products: the CT Solar Loan and the Smart-E Loan. Together with $8 million of repurposed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds as credit enhancements, the Connecticut Green Bank was able to use $25 million in state and these federal funds to mobilize $180 million of private capital investment in residential clean energy deployment. In a venture with Sungage Financial, the Connecticut Green Bank supported a clean energy finance entrepreneur to demonstrate the viability of a specific solar loan product – the first solar loan product not secured by a mortgage on the home or a requirement to use solar equipment from a particular manufacturer.  In collaboration with 13 local community banks and credit unions, the Connecticut Green Bank’s Smart-E loan provides a “second loss” loan loss reserve for unsecured financing of clean energy projects, including residential solar – which encourages these lenders to lend unsecured at affordable interest rates for longer maturities.

 

Webinar Three: Financing Residential Solar in Connecticut #2: Insights into Lease and Third-Party Ownership Programs

The third webinar in the series will focus on two lease products: the CT Solar Lease and Solar for All.  Through the leveraging of ARRA funds as credit enhancements, the Connecticut Green Bank provided access to lease financing for local contractors, in partnership with a syndicate of local lenders and tax equity providers. In recognition of the need to provide access to capital to low-income and vulnerable communities, in partnership with PosiGen, the Green Bank launched the Solar for All solar and energy efficiency lease product.  This session will look at the structure of these lease financing products, including the various benefits that result from increasing easy and affordable access to residential solar, especially for vulnerable communities.

 

Webinar Four: Solar + Storage for All in Connecticut: Framework for Deployment in Low Income and Disadvantaged Communities 

The fourth and final webinar in this series will focus on Solar + Storage for All in Connecticut. Through Residential Renewable Energy Solutions and Energy Storage Solutions incentive programs, Connecticut is seeking to mobilize investment in and deployment of solar + storage in low-income and disadvantaged communities to reduce energy burden, increase energy security, and more.  This webinar will provide useful insights into how Connecticut is thinking about its “Solar for All” application into the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. 

Webinar slides are linked here.