Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) are performance-based incentives that let homeowners earn credits for every megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity their solar system generates. Homeowners can sell these credits to aggregators, who in turn sell them to utilities to help meet state Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirements — providing additional income on top of energy savings.
SRECs are separate from net metering. They represent an additional revenue stream for the homeowner, not a bill credit. Not all states offer SRECs.
In this article:
- How SRECs work
- Modeling SRECs in Aurora
- Showing SREC income on the monthly bill
- SREC disbursement types
- State-specific SREC programs
How SRECs work
SRECs are issued based on system energy production:
- 1 SREC = 1,000 kWh (1 MWh) of solar production
- Once installed and registered, your system's generation is tracked in a state monitoring system that issues SRECs automatically.
- You can sell SRECs to aggregators, who sell them to utilities to meet state RPS requirements.
- SREC prices typically range from $4–$300+ depending on the state and market conditions.
Example: A system producing 10,000 kWh/year generates 10 SRECs. At $260/SREC, that's $2,600 in annual SREC income.
Formula: (Annual kWh ÷ 1,000) × SREC rate = Annual SREC value
Modeling SRECs in Aurora
Aurora includes many state SREC programs in its incentives database. To apply an SREC to a project:
- Open the project in Sales Mode.
- Navigate to $ (Pricing) > Incentives.
- Click Add Incentive and search for the relevant SREC program. A dropdown appears with all enabled incentives — scroll or type to find the right one.
- Select the incentive to apply it to the proposal.
By default, Aurora calculates the total expected SREC savings and subtracts that amount from the system cost. This is not factored into the monthly post-solar bill comparison unless you enable the setting below.
Showing SREC income on the monthly bill
To display SREC income in the homeowner's post-solar monthly bill comparison, an admin must enable the setting in the proposal template:
- Navigate to Database > Proposal Templates.
- Select the template where you want SREC income to appear.
- Add the Post Solar Card Interactive element.
- Enable Show Incentive Income.
Once enabled, an Incentive income line item will appear in the post-solar card in Sales Mode, factoring expected monthly SREC income into the bill comparison and savings chart.
Note: This setting only changes how the value is visualized — it does not affect overall savings calculations.
SREC disbursement types
SREC programs pay out in one of two ways:
Incremental payments
The most common structure. The homeowner receives SREC payments annually over the duration of the program. Aurora models this using the Performance incentive type with Incremental disbursement.
Lump-sum payments
Some programs (including Illinois) pay the total expected SREC value upfront. Aurora models this using the Performance incentive type with Lump sum disbursement. The lump sum is calculated based on projected system production over the program term.
For program-specific modeling instructions, see the state-specific articles below.