Not sure about your area, but any credit or compensation you get from selling electricity back to the grid or just getting credit for stand alone solar units, once the government finds out you have solar panels, your taxes will eventually increase. Here, it is better to not let anyone know you use solar panels and just reap the benefits of having them.

Kt

Which government? State? Local?

State and/or local, depending on the area, but remember, if you have a lot of solar panels, and are already on the grid, then it will be more beneficial to sell back to the grid and also save when using them.

I was talking more about stand alone systems which may have only a few solar panels vs having a dozen or even 2 dozen solar panels.

Kt

No we are already hooked to the grid with a 5 kw system and we are banking our unused electricity in the summer and using up the bank in the winter.

But there are the srecs that I really don't understand how I get them, and to whom I can sell them and if it's worthwhile doing.

SREC's are kind of complicated to understand.

First you will have to get your system certified and register it.

One SREC will be awarded for every 1000 kw of electricity that is produced. The more solar systems that you have in your area, the more the SREC supply will increase.

The money received from selling SREC's will increase the value of your solar setup and thus will help with the financing of more solar technology.

Depending on your state and federal incentives, you can recover your investment in your solar setup by selling your SRECs.

Does that help?

Kt

A little...I guess I'll have to pursue it within my state.

Here is a link to an article from Home Power magazine
regarding SREC's.

http://www.homepower.com/articles/solar-electricity/design-installation/monetizing-sunshine

Annie,Deighnaugh, did you get your RECs?

I get them (Maryland) but my solar installer took care of all that. I can forward you the registration info if you need it.

You will still be netmetering. RECs are based solely upon your production as a power plant, with no relation to what you personally use.

I'm the first registered and licensed, residential solar power plant in Maryland. Then the state could buy RECs from me, because I'm in production of energy.

I have 32 panels (and a water system) and produce 5.6 kilowatts.

Not yet...I've tried searching the internet and it's not clear to me that our state is issuing them...it is a state thing, yes?

How they're handled, yes.
You might try talking with your state's energy department. For example, Maryland is Maryland Energy Administration.
Or go to this site and look around DSIRE. It is a state index.

I also go through a broker to handle all the administrative stuff. U.S. Photovalactics (I'm probably spelling that wrong.) run by Fred Angst. I just get a little money here and there deposited into my checking account.
You're missing out on some money. Probably not a lot, but every little bit helps.

I got connected to the proper forms through the DSIRE web pages, the one I used for my state was under "Performance Based Incentives" and is offered by my utility company. It's called "Small ZREC Tariff".

My state pays a little over $160 per ZREC. The applications process was oversubscribed, so they chose people via a lottery.

Edit to add:

Annie, I just remembered you're also in CT. Here's a link to the DSIRE page.

Which program you apply to depends on if you are CL&P or UI. I'm CL&P. The CL&P program was over subscribed both last year and this year, so they choose via a lottery. A lot of folks chosen early fall out during the vetting stage, so they can get a ways down the list before the program is full.

This year the ZREC is about $100. Quite a drop from last year.

This post was edited by mongoct on Wed, Jun 18, 14 at 19:46

Thank you mongo! I'll check into it...we're with UI.