How to Make Money from Solar Renewable Energy Credits

Home » Solar Toolkit: For Homeowners » How to Make Money from Solar Renewable Energy Credits

Instructions for Habitat homeowners to sell their Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs)

What are SRECs?

Solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) allow you to earn additional income from solar electricity generation. As a solar homeowner, you can earn one SREC for every megawatt hour (MWh), or 1,000 kilowatt hours (kWhs), of electricity your solar system produces. A 4 kW solar system will produce one SREC in approximately two months. 

Why sell your SRECs?

Because you can earn some additional income.    

What are SRECs worth?

The value of one SREC is determined by the going market price for SRECs, which fluctuates over time. When you sell your SRECs, you are not selling the electricity itself. You are selling your “bragging rights,” or your right to claim that you generate solar electricity. The solar energy that your system generates will still go to meet your house’s demand first  before it goes out to the electricity grid. 

**Selling your SRECs will have no impact on how much money you save on your electric bill. It will just add a few more dollars to your pocket each month ($15-20 per month, Jan. 2022).


Instructions for registering your solar system and selling your SRECs:

GiveSolar is available to assist you in registering your solar system. Contact Jeff Heie at (540) 656-6841 or [email protected]

1. Pick your aggregator:
SolSystems or SRECTrade
2. Create an account.
3. Register your system.

Have the information below handy. Your installer should be able to provide all this information. Some installers may provide registration as a service.Information to register:

– Number of panels 
– Azimuth
– Tilt
– Number and type of inverter (model number)
– Photo of panels that allows them to be counted
– Signed interconnect agreement (from the installation)
– Name of installer
– Inverter website permission where production is posted, so you can give the aggregator view permission
4. Pick a contract—most aggregators will offer brokerage (which means you get whatever the going price is, minus their fee for selling your SRECs); an annuity contract for a number of years, which means you get a fixed price for that length of time; or up front, which means they buy a certain number of years of your system credits for one upfront payment (but they don’t give you full market price). 
5. Set up direct deposit to your bank account.
6. Review the performance of the broker each year and change to another if necessary.

Example Form for the SREC registration:

Number of panels12—Hanwha Q Cells, PEAK DUO BLK-GS 315 (120 CELL)(315 W): 3.78 kW
Azimuth199.561
Tilt18.4
Number and type of inverter 12-Enphase IQ7PLUS-72-2-US
Make and model of electric meterCentron C1A3B
Does the meter roll over?Yes
At what reading?99,999
Photo of panels that allows them to be counted(see photo below)
Signed interconnection agreement(provided by the electric utility)
Name of InstallerGreen Hill Solar
Inverter website permission where production is posted, so you can give the aggregator permission to viewhttps://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/; Log-in: **************; Password: ********
Sample photo