Solar Net Metering Cap

State laws cap the number and size of projects that can benefit from net metering.

Solar net metering cap.

However as california s three major investor owned utilities sdg e pg e and sce advanced toward hitting their net energy metering cap at the end of 2015 the california public utilities commission cpuc established new net metering regulations called nem 2 0. Massachusetts currently has a cap on the amount of solar that is eligible for net metering. Current net metering policies in massachusetts. Residential solar installations smaller than 10kw will usually qualify for net metering.

Electric generation suppliers which are not a customer s default service provider are not required to net meter. Residential customers of all investor owned utilities with system capacity up to 50 kw may net meter. Illinois hit its cap earlier this year starting a process to. Small commercial solar projects are directly connected to local distribution systems and avoid the conventional eversource.

Net metering or net energy metering nem is an electricity billing mechanism that allows consumers who generate some or all of their own electricity to use that electricity anytime instead of when it is generated this is particularly important with renewable energy sources like wind and solar which are non dispatchable when not coupled to storage. This cap varies depending on the utility company and whether the system is publicly or privately owned. Both pg e and sdg e have already reached their caps and sce is expected to begin net metering 2 0 in july 2017. For each utility net metering 2 0 is put into place when the five percent cap is reached.

Large scale solar panel farms and their beneficiaries are most impacted by the cap. Once sce switches to net metering 2 0 there will be no cap on the amount of solar that is eligible for net metering. The formula is simple. In the past sdge e solar customers could choose between tiers and time of use tou rates.

Net metering is a way for connecticut to declare its energy independence. Many states have enacted distributed solar caps and once a cap is hit net metering is no longer available for new solar customers. Systems larger than 10kw may receive credits at a reduced rate. Solar net metering facilities that are not cap exempt and that submitted a complete application for a cap allocation by september 26 2016 and obtained a cap allocation by january 8 2017 generate standard net metering credits for 25 years from the date on which they were first authorized to interconnect to the electric grid if the facility.