Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection

DEEP headquarters at 79 Elm Street in Hartford is currently closed due to recent water damage impacting multiple areas of the building. We are working to remediate the situation and get the building back open to staff and the public as soon as possible. While the building is closed, Staff continue to work either remotely or in alternate locations. We continue to be able to receive documents via U.S. Mail or courier service, and our electronic file submittal protocols remain unchanged. For updates, please click here

Please visit the Official Coalition New England Accelerator website at: www.nehpa.org 

Introducing the New England Heat Pump Accelerator

The New England Heat Pump Accelerator (Accelerator) is a multi-state effort to accelerate the adoption of cold-climate air-source heat pumps (ASHP), ground-source heat pumps (GSHP), and heat pump water heaters (HPWH) across New England. The Accelerator coalition was awarded a $450 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Program in July 2024. Connecticut DEEP finalized the 5-year grant agreement with EPA in October 2024.

The coalition is led by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources, Maine Governor’s Office for Policy Innovation and the Future, and New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. 

The coalition will leverage the power of a multi-state market to rapidly increase the adoption of heat pumps and heat pump water heaters in single-family and multifamily residential buildings across the region. The coalition will also tackle barriers to affordable heat pump adoption and promote development of heat pump skill sets in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), plumbing, and electrical workforce.

The coalition will partner with heat pump manufacturers, distributors, and installers to increase the availability of air-source and ground-source heat pumps while lowering equipment and installation costs for consumers. This partnership will include significant investment in workforce training, ensuring installers across the five states will have access to good-paying careers while delivering more efficient heating and cooling solutions for our residents. A portion of the funding will support innovative strategies to ensure heat pump installations that work for all building types, such as mobile homes, multifamily buildings, and buildings with radiator (hydronic) heating systems common throughout the region. Through the unprecedented multi-state collaboration supported by this grant, the states will share information and best practices learned through this initiative to improve heat pump programs and building policies for decades to come.

Current Updates

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ON STATE PILOT PROGRAM 

Through its RFI dated November 5, 2025, DEEP is requesting comments on a potential design for a state heat pump pilot (Pilot) funded under the New England Heat Pump Accelerator (Accelerator). This Pilot is intended to propel the adoption of cold climate air-source heat pumps (ASHPs), heat pump water heaters (HPWHs), and/or other efficient, electric heat pump technologies in single-family and/or multi-family residential buildings.

Interested parties can access the Pilot Request for Information here.

Public Meeting

DEEP held a virtual public meeting on November 13, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. ET, to solicit feedback on the proposed pilot approach described in this RFI.

The recorded meeting is available at this link.

The meeting presentation slides are available at this link. 

The Agenda for the November 13, 2025, public meeting is available.

The deadline to submit responses to this RFI was December 5, 2025, at 12:00 p.m. (noon) ET, via email to Deep.EnergyBureau@ct.gov and include “Accelerator State Grant RFI” in the subject line of the email.

KICK-OFF WEBINAR

On November 19, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. ET, DEEP held a Kick-Off webinar for the New England Heat Pump Accelerator (Accelerator). The $450 million program will support workforce development, incentives and grants for heat pumps in coalition states.

COALITION NEWS 

View Rhode Island’s State Pilot RFI. RFI Comments due: 11/10/2025

View New Hampshire's State Pilot RFI. RFI Comments due: 11/21/2025

 

RESOURCES

 View GHG Savings Technical Appendix

Older News from 2025

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) (Released February 28, 2025) 

DEEP released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Regional Implementer for the New England Heat Pump Accelerator.

On March 21, 2025, DEEP posted Responses to Written Questions. In response to questions, DEEP extended the deadline for proposals to April 10, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. EST.

Interested parties can access the Implementer RFP here. This RFP has been updated in response to questions. 

A bidders' conference was held on March 10, 2025. View the recording.

Written questions were accepted through March 11, 2025.

 

Content last updated January 2026