PowerSmart is a unique community outreach campaign managed by SmartPower and designed to present Connecticut homeowners with various opportunities and choices available to them to own “Solar+Storage,” which allows residents to convert sunlight into electrical energy and store that energy in a battery for use at a later time. The combination of these technologies lets residents be more self-sufficient and control their own energy use, even during utility grid power outages.
The Energy Storage Solutions program, administered by CT Green Bank and Eversource Energy, offers residents the opportunity to receive a generous upfront rebate incentive for agreeing to have their batteries partially drawn down during certain summer “peak demand” days, and for a handful of days during the winter. Customers will get payments each year based on the amount of electricity that is drawn from their batteries, thus helping to ease strain on the grid.
There are safeguards in place so that drawdowns are suspended in the event of a power outage. Cheshire homeowners who get home batteries do not have to participate in this power sharing program, but would forego the state incentives. However, both solar energy and battery storage systems are eligible for a 30% federal tax credit pursuant to the Inflation Reduction Act.
To learn more, Cheshire Energy Commission chair Rich Ogurick invites Cheshire homeowners to an information session being held in the Mary Baldwin room at Cheshire Public Library on Wednesday, July 26, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Additional information can be accessed at https://powersmartcheshire.wee.green or by emailing powersmart@smartpower.org