Shared Clean Energy Facility (SCEF) Program

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. The SCEF program is authorized by Public Act No. 18-50 and allows Connecticut customers to participate in the renewables market when their home or facility cannot support renewable energy production. The SCEF program is a six-year competitive procurement program that will support up to 150 MW of new clean power generation in Connecticut; Public Act No. 22-14 expanded the program to 50 MW a year, up from 25 MW a year, creating a new program total of 225 MW.

Selected SCEF program generators will be provided with a 20-year tariff term from either Eversource or United Illuminating (UI). SCEF projects will result in credits that will be applied to the bills of participating electric customers at no cost to those customers. Contact Eversource's or UI's SCEF representatives for more information.

Subscriber Allocation

In 2023, the subscriber allocation percentages were revised so that SCEF projects could qualify for the Inflation Reduction Act's low-income economic development rider. Systems must allocate 50% of their energy to low-income customers, 20% to low- to moderate-income customers, and 20% to small business customers. The remaining 10% can be allocated to any eligible customer.

Bid Preferences

The procurement price cap for 2025 is $133/MWh.

Developers can receive bid preferences for their projects: 20% bid preference for projects on landfill or brownfields, and 40% for solar canopies. Projects on brownfields must locate at least 75% of the panels on the site (e.g. a project can be 90% on a brownfield and 10% on a greenfield and still be eligible for the bid preference). Solar canopy projects must have 100% of the generation footprint on a canopy to be eligible.

Projects on Agricultural Land

Projects cannot be sited on Prime Farmland unless they follow specific requirements for dual-use agrivoltaics outlined by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Developers can receive waivers through the Department of Agriculture.