The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund is offering immediate rebates to homeowners, businesses and organizations that purchase solar-powered hot water heaters when they work with an approved contractor. Under the new federal program, homeowners and businesses gather cost estimates from a list of eligible contractors, who evaluate how much energy is generated from sunlight at the home or business during the winter months.

According to the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund Web site, rebates could be as much as $4,800 for a large house. The more energy generated by the sun, the bigger the rebate.

Using a solar path finder, a contractor measures the shading in a house and enters the information into a computer program to determine how much energy (in BTUs) the solar thermal hot water heater is likely to get from the sun.

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California regulators approved a $350-million rebate offer today to encourage homes and businesses to install water-heating systems powered by solar energy.

The state Public Utilities Commission established the California Solar Initiative Thermal Program, which will use $250 million to replace natural-gas-powered water heaters, with $25 million set aside for low-income customers. An additional $100.8 million will be used to swap out water heaters powered by electricity.

The incentives will decrease steadily over eight years until Dec. 31, 2017, or until the funds run out. The rebates will begin retroactively in August 2009.

The program could result in systems that displace 585 million therms of natural gas, or the equivalent of placing a solar water heater on 200,000 single-family homes, according to the commission. It could also lead to systems that displace 275.7 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.

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