Battery Program
Use Your Battery Storage Device to Make the Grid More Sustainable
How it Works
With the summer heat, it's important to reduce stress on the grid when possible.
ConnectedSolutions uses batteries to reduce peak energy use, reduce air pollution, and lower electricity costs.
You can participate in this program either by installing a battery with a new solar PV system or by adding a battery to an existing solar PV system. And, when the time is right, Rhode Island Energy makes it easy by sending a signal directly to your battery.
Customers who have a battery without a solar PV system are able to participate, but will not be able to export power to the electric grid. This limits the battery discharge rate to the power the home is using at that time, reducing incentives.
During the summer, batteries will be called:
- June - September
- 3 pm - 8 pm
- No more than 60 times
- A maximum of 3 hours per event
Take the first step! Contact a battery implementer (below) or your solar installer today.
Battery implementers are:
- Enphase
- Fortress Power
- FranklinWH
- Generac (formerly Pika Energy)
- QCells
- SolarEdge
- Sol-Ark
- Sonnen (paired with Outback inverter)
- SunPower
- Sunrun
- Panasonic
- Tesla
Incentives
Incentive rates are subject to routine review and approval and are subject to change.
Customers will receive an incentive every summer based on the performance of their battery system. The incentive rate refers to the average curtailment amount across all events during the summer. Performance per event is equal to the average discharge rate of the battery in kW-AC over the length of the event. Rates vary dependent upon your ConnectedSolutions enrollment date.
Any customer who enrolls on or after June 1, 2024, will receive an incentive rate of $225 per kW. The customer’s per-kW incentive level is set for new installations for five consecutive summers.
Any customer who enrolls on or before May 31, 2024, will receive an incentive rate of $400 per kW. The customer’s per-kW incentive level is set for new installations for five consecutive summers.
Any customer who reaches their 5th summer of participation will receive the incentive rate (if any) offered at that point in time. For the 2024-2026 program years, the incentive rate is set at $200 per kW.
Please note that for all customers, incentives will be set in three-year periods “2024-2026”. During the next three-year review, the incentives may be re-evaluated and adjusted based on market conditions for the Program Period of 2027-2029. It is our intent to provide some degree of certainty about expected revenues to support project financing. However, all incentives are subject to review and oversight. Even if the incentive rate for new customer in the program changes during the first five consecutive summers of the customer’s participation, it is our intent to have the incentive rate for those customers to remain the same for new installations for five consecutive summers.
Incentives are performance-based. Your battery system performance will vary based on size, configuration, internet connectivity, and other factors.
Some battery implementers may offer other discounts, such as a reduced upfront cost in return for paying the ConnectedSolutions seasonal incentives to the battery implementer.
0% HEAT Financing Loan for Low-Income (A-60 Rate) Eligible Participants
As of June 1st, 2024, the 0% HEAT Financing Loan is only available for low-income (A-60) customers. Customers who are interested in applying for a financing loan will need to complete an EnergyWise no-cost home energy assessment and receive a 0% Financing Enrollment Form.
The customer is responsible for filling out the 0% Financing Enrollment Form and agreeing to terms and conditions. This form cannot be filled out by the customer’s vendor.
By applying for the 0% Financing for a battery energy storage system, the customer is agreeing to enroll in ConnectedSolutions once the battery energy storage system is online and interconnected.
Application for ConnectedSolutions: Small Scale Batteries (to be submitted to the customer's inverter manufacturer)
If you have customer service questions about ConnectedSolutions, please e-mail rienergy@energyhub.com.
*The intent of this 'five-year rate lock' is to provide some degree of certainty about expected revenues to support project financing. However, the five-year rate lock is not a guarantee; actual incentive rates are subject to routine review and approval and are subject to change.
FAQs
A home battery storage system operates like a rechargeable AA or AAA battery, but at a much larger scale. Home battery systems can be discharged when needed, e.g. when the power goes out (if the system configuration supports this) or when there is a ConnectedSolutions event.
To participate in the program, customers must work with one of the approved battery implementors listed above.
Many customers install energy storage systems in preparation for power outages. We want to ensure that customers with solar batteries remain prepared if the lights go out.
In New England, most power outages occur during the winter, whereas most events in the ConnectedSolutions program will be in the summer. Additionally, if the forecast calls for extreme weather, we will not call a winter event, allowing ConnectedSolutions participants to keep fully-charged batteries in preparation for a possible outage event. Customers may also choose to participate in the summer season and forgo the winter incentive.
Yes. If we cannot communicate with your energy storage system, or if your energy storage system cannot discharge when needed (due to a maintenance issue), the incentive paid to either the system owner or their battery implementer will be affected.
Yes. Customers with existing solar PV systems can add an energy storage system to their homes to participate. However, storage cannot be easily added to every solar PV installation. Please ask your solar installer or battery implementer for more details.
When you add a battery system to your existing solar PV system, your solar interconnection agreement will need to be updated. Please work with your solar PV or battery implementer to complete this update.
To end your participation, please contact your battery implementer or send an email to rienergy@energyhub.com.