Contractor FAQ

No. We ask that you provide evidence of current certifications at the time of the Eligible Contractor or Third-Party Owner Application, found here https://energystoragect.com/contractor-application/.

After submitting your eligible contractor application, the Connecticut Green Bank (Green Bank) will review your application within a reasonable timeframe and send out a letter of approval or a letter of rejection as soon as practicable.

Yes, all contractors new to ESS will be required to submit an Eligible Contractor application. Contractors who are eligible in other Green Bank programs will have an expedited application process, however. 

Please have the battery operator, including the manufacturer, contractor, or TPO complete the New Technologies Request form, found on the energy storage webpage and at the following link: https://energystoragect.com/contractor-resources/. That request form will be reviewed to determine if the battery energy storage system (BESS) meets the minimum technical requirements and is able to move forward with integration with the Distributed (Energy) Resource Management System (DRMS for UI, DERMS for Eversource). Once accepted, the battery manufacturer will then be responsible for working with the DRMS/DERMS platform managers to complete integration.

You can find the list of eligible OEMs on the Contractor Resources page of our website, found here: https://energystoragect.com/eligible-contractors/.

A contractor can still submit the customer’s application in the enrollment platform, but they should also submit the New Technologies Request Form. There will likely be a delay in approval and an incentive is not guaranteed. Even if a BESS is listed as eligible, a New Technology Application will be required for the first project submission for that OEM or “last mile operator”. While the BESS and OEMs shown on the list are considered eligible, not all OEMs have committed to participating in the program. The initial submittal will confirm their interest to participate in ESS.

As mandated by PURA, islanding is a primary requirement in the program that ensures customers separate their interconnected load from their grid connection during power outages in support of enhanced resiliency to program participants.

To prevent back feeding onto the grid for protection of utility workers and to meet the resiliency requirements as directed in the PURA Final Decision.

Priority customers are the four customer categories identified by PURA to be at risk, and for which PURA has allowed additional incentives. These customers are: (1) critical facilities, (2) grid-edge, (3) small businesses, and (4) C&I spaces replacing onsite fossil-fuel generation.

If the battery is remaining with the home, there are two options: (A) the new homeowner is interested in participating in the program and completes a BESS Ownership Transfer Form, found on the energy storage webpage at https://energystoragect.com/energy-storage-solutions-for-homes, or (B) the new homeowner is not interested in participating in the programs, and the Program Administrators will seek to recoup the upfront incentive through the process reported in the Program Manual.

The low-income Energy Storage Solutions (ESS) incentive will be available only to households with income less than 60% of the state median income. To verify qualification, contractors will collect one of the following three items for all household members with income: (1) Last two pay stubs for all the household members who are 15 years old and older earning more than $3,500 a year (2) W2 from the previous calendar year, (3) Documentation of customer’s enrollment in another low-income program. Customers are also eligible if they can demonstrate any of the criteria or participate in any existing social service programs listed on the webpage at https://energystoragect.com/low-income-verification. The contractor will then collect a completed and signed Affidavit of Low-Income Eligibility using one of the items from the list above and submit it on the enrollment platform at the time of project completion.

The Green Bank will audit up to 50% of low-income projects for each participating contractor and reserves the right to audit additional projects.

Residential customers will automatically be enrolled in the active and passive dispatch. Residential customers will automatically be enrolled in the active and passive dispatch unless otherwise noted during the initial application process. Customer who choose not to participate in Passive Dispatches will not be eligible to receive the upfront incentive.

C&I customers may enroll in active and passive or just active.

No. Dispatch settings will be communicated to the customer’s battery provider by the Electric Distribution Companies (“EDCs”) through their DRMS/DERMS. The battery provider will implement the settings for the BESS. Passive dispatching information will be provided in advance of the Passive Dispatch season for implementation by the customer’s battery provider.

Only during dispatch seasons. The passive dispatch season runs on non-holiday weekdays from June to August between 3PM and 8PM and the active dispatch season runs from June to September between noon and 9PM.

Passive dispatch requires customers to discharge batteries reserving 20% of rated battery capacity during the passive dispatch hours. Customers are requested to discharge full available battery capacity when called for active dispatching.

Non-performance in passive events during the 10-year participation of the program will result in non- compliance with program requirements and the customer will be required to return a prorated portion of the un-earned incentive. This claw back evaluation process will commence at the end of the summer season. The evaluation will determine whether a participating BESS responded to greater than 90% of the passive dispatch hours at the enrolled level with the expectation to uniformly dispatch 80% of useable energy over the 5-hour passive dispatch window. The first year that the system is non- compliant with this threshold, the customer will be responsible for returning 10% of the upfront incentive (“Violation Fee 1”). Upon the second year of non-compliance, the customer will be charged a second fee equal to a pro-rated amount of the upfront incentive based upon remaining years in the program (“Violation Fee 2”). After Violation Fee 2, the customer will no longer be considered a participant in Energy Storage Solutions. If the customer does not pay the violation fees as described above, performance incentive payouts will be swept by the Green Bank until the cost of the violation fee is recovered. If no performance incentive payouts are available to be swept, the customer will be billed by the Green Bank. If the customer is able to demonstrate a valid reason for non-compliance (e.g. manufacturer recall), they may appeal the Violation Fees to the Green Bank directly. The Green Bank, Eversource and United Illuminating will investigate and will notify the customer in writing whether the penalty is upheld.

If the battery is not available for the active events during the 10-year participation of the program, there is no penalty, but the performance-based incentive will be reduced.

The active dispatch expectation is that 100% of the battery’s available capacity will be dispatched during the event timing. Available capacity is the full battery discharge capacity that will not void the customer’s battery warranty.

The passive dispatch requirement is that the battery will be discharged down to a 20% state of charge (SOC). If the battery is not fully charged at 3 pm, there should be 20% reserve left in the battery after the passive dispatch windows is over.

During the dispatch seasons, the customer cannot override the system during passive events, as that will affect program compliance. The customer can override the active dispatch by not participating or curtailing during an active event.

We do not anticipate there will be many events called with less than 24-hour notice. When that happens, that event will not be counted in the calculation of average performance.

The criteria is typically based on the ISO NE three-day forecasts but there are other variables that need to be considered. Typically, the EDCs expect events to have a duration of 2-3 hours. This allows the best probability of impacting the targeted ISO hourly peak

The EDCs will communicate the override or cancellation of passive events via the DERMS. How the batteries are used during the outage will be up to customers.

Active dispatch and passive dispatch should be unnoticeable to customers.

The Distributed Energy Resource Management System provides dispatching to BESS for scheduled active events. The DERMS vendors will communicate to the BESS “last mile” contractor via a secure API or open ADR connection. The BESS will also communicate battery data to the DERMs in order to verify battery performance for passive and active dispatch performance and compensation.

When severe weather is forecasted, the EDCs will provide 48 hours advance notification that passive events and scheduled active events are cancelled until the impacts of the storm have passed.

The upfront incentive associated with participation in passive dispatch will be administered by the Green Bank. The incentive will be paid directly to the contractor, in monthly batches based on project installation completion. This incentive will be passed onto the customer as a reduction in the total system cost.

The performance incentive associated with participation in active dispatch will be administered by Eversource and UI. The settlement for active dispatch will be generated at the end of the summer and winter dispatch seasons.

No, there will be no baseline. The calculation of the average performance will be based on the discharge performance across all events called during the dispatch season.

Yes. If desired, applicants can designate another party to receive a portion of or the full performance incentive payments. The financial institution information will not be captured at the time of the initial application and instead after installation is complete.

No, participation in capacity and ancillary markets is not allowed.

Consult with a tax professional to learn about potential tax incentives.

No, they are two different programs. The BESS will only participate in one program, not both. A customer may move from Connected Solutions to the active portion of Energy Storage Solutions during the first year but will need to commit to active dispatch for 10 years.

The number one priority for PURA was to design a program in a cost-effective way. To accomplish this, PURA set a Ratepayer Impact Measure (RIM) target of 1.40. The reduction in incentive is needed to meet the cost-effective requirement of the program.

If participating in other demand response programs diminishes the BESS availability to perform during passive or active dispatches, then stacking will not be encouraged.

Non-compliance with passive dispatch will trigger violation notifications and potentially end the BESS participation in the program and require recoupment of a prorated portion of the upfront incentive. Average participation in active dispatch will be affected, and the performance payment will be lower.

In order to receive an incentive, the equipment must have at least a 10-year warranty. All Eligible Contractors must offer a minimum 10-year workmanship warranty.

The Energy Storage Solutions Program will be available only in Eversource and UI service territories. Municipal utilities are not included.