Connecticut Administrative Code
Title 16a - Planning and Energy Policy
14 - Eligibility of Nonresidential Solar Energy Electricity Generating Systems for the Purpose of Authorized Property Tax Exemption
Section 16a-14-2 - Definitions

(a) "Solar Energy" is defined as the energy received by the earth from the sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation or potential or kinetic energy existing in the earth's principle media, such as the sea, the air and the land, as the result of such radiation being received. Solar energy includes but is not limited to:

(b) A "conventional heating and cooling system" is a system which delivers heating or cooling to a building through the combustion of fossil fuels such as petroleum or petroleum products, natural gas, or coal or through the utilization of electricity as a heat source except where generated by means of solar energy as defined in subsection (a).

(c) A "residential solar energy electricity generating system" means equipment which is designed, operated and installed as a system at any private residential location, which utilizes solar energy to produce electricity for consumption at such location and which meets standards established by these regulations. "Consumption at such location" shall be deemed to include electricity furnished from any private residential location to an electric company as defined in section 16-1 of the General Statutes, a municipal electric plant established under chapter 101 of the General Statutes, a municipal electric energy cooperative established under chapter 101a of the General Statutes, or an electric cooperative established under chapter 597 of the General Statutes, whose authorized service area includes said private residential location, if the amount of electricity so furnished on an annual basis does not exceed the amount of electricity received on an annual basis from said company, plant, or cooperative for consumption at said private residential location.

(d) "private residential" includes both single-family and multi-family dwellings, and includes mobile homes as defined in subsection (a) of section 21-64 of the General Statutes, but does not include institutional buildings as defined in the State Building Code. If a portion of a building is occupied as a residential dwelling and a portion is occupied for some other use, then a solar energy electricity generating system which supplies electricity to such a building is eligible for a property tax exemption only if it supplies electricity solely to the residential portion of the building or if the conditions in subsection (e) are met for the nonresidential portion.

(e) A "nonresidential solar energy electricity generating system" means equipment other than a residential solar energy electricity generating system which is designed, operated and installed as a system which produces electricity using solar energy as the source of energy for at least seventy-five percent of the electricity produced by the system and which meets the standards established by these regulations.