Homeowners have several reasons to go solar in Stroudsburg, PA, and financial incentives happen to be some of the most compelling among them. There’s a slew of financial incentives available to home solar buyers from state and federal governments. However, homeowners often tend to ignore solar renewable energy certificates (SRECs).
SRECs are performance-based incentives (PBIs) that solar owners earn based on the amount of solar power they generate over the year. Here’s what you must know about them:
How SRECs Work in Stroudsburg, PA?
Pennsylvania has put in place an SREC program that rewards solar owners based on the amount of solar power they generate. In practice, for every 1 kWh of solar power generated by a solar panel installation, the owner earns 1 SREC.
To put things in perspective, a 10 kW solar system generates somewhere between 11 kWh and 12 kWh of solar power annually. So, the owner of a 10 kW solar installation can earn about 11 or 12 SRECs, respectively.
Once you earn these SRECs, you can sell them for profit in the open market.
Who Buys SRECs and Why?
The state of Pennsylvania has mandated utility companies to produce a portion of their electricity from using renewable sources. Most utility companies simply purchase SRECs from solar buyers to fulfill their mandate’s requirements.
This way, solar buyers can sell the SRECs they earn by generating solar power in the open market to competing utility companies.
What Are SRECs Worth?
As of April 2022, Pennsylvania SRECs are trading at about $40 apiece. So, if your system generates 12 kWh of solar power annually and earns 12 SRECs, you’ll pocket $480 at the end of the year.
These profits are in addition to other incentives like net metering, which operate independently of the SRECs.
When and Where to Sell SRECs?
You can trade your SRECs in the open market on SREC Trade. However, the SRECs are valid for only 3 calendar years.
The price of SRECs varies from time to time based on demand-supply economics. So, if you’d like to wait until you get better prices, make sure to sell them before their scheduled expiry. To know more about SRECs and how they can impact your profits from switching to home solar, get in touch with us.
