Is now a good time to invest in solar?

mheslep

Keep in mind that the little guy in the end pays for those SRECS. The electric producers don't buy SRECs using their hidden pot of gold, they pass the cost on via electric rates, or the state of NJ does via taxes.

Artman

What concerns me is the double dipping from the utility companies. The SREC program has restrictions imposed on the "little guy" that do not seem to be imposed on utilities.

Little guy can't sell their overproduction for retail rates.

The utilities can sell their overproduction for retail rates.

Little guy gets their meter's zeroed at their anniversary. This is because they can take advantage of the SREC program so the utilities supposedly have paid something for the solar power. If this benefit disappears (with a one year drop from near $700 to $166 disappearance is right around the corner), I don't want my meter zeroed.

The utilities can generate and sell as much as they want supposedly because they are the ones buying the SRECs.

Now the utilities are selling SRECs to their competition. How is that right?

Shouldn't their solar farms only count against their SREC requirements? Then perhaps any production in excess of those requirements be sold. Otherwise it's double dipping. Triple dipping if you consider that money gained from SREC sales to competition benefits them in straining their competition's income.

mheslep

Perhaps I do not understand the SREC program, but I thought it is _only_ the utilities that buy the SRECs, as mandated by law; it is the utilities that make the market demand for SRECs and no one else. Also, the utilities can only sell as much power as the consumers use (the load). They can not, in effect, generate as much power as they like and zap it into the ether for a fee.

Artman

Updates:
We had one month where we needed to buy $130.00 of electricity this winter. We raised the heat pump to 67 deg F as a constant and did no night setback this year. Our secondary heat source is our oil hot water baseboard heat. With the constant 67 deg temp, the heat pump did not have to kick in the second stage much at all this year. We spent only $30 for oil. So, for our +-1200 sf 60 year old house we only needed $160 for heat and electricity this whole year (from April to April).

The solar system is still generating at design ratings we have not noticed a drop in performance yet. As of right now the system has generated 24,965 kWh (design was for 11,000 per year and we went online in January 2 years ago).

I noticed that the worst period for solar generation has been late fall early winter (no big surprise there) however, I am surprised that Spring did not seem similarly bad.

SRECs have plummeted to $125.00 as of our last sale, which was last night.

All in all, still glad we put in the solar system.

OmCheeto

I paid that each month, for the last 6 months.
I'm glad you did too.

ps. I'm going to get banned for the following, as I have investments in Alcoa....

I wish we could send you some of our power, during the cold days:

BPA orders NW wind farms to curtail production April 30, 2012 The Bonneville Power Administration twice ordered Pacific Northwest wind farms to cut production in recent days because it has a surplus of power from hydroelectric dams.

And it's been going on for years....

tards...