Author: Lacy Cook — Are you interested in reducing your utility bills and powering your home with renewable energy? Solar may be your answer. Virginia ranks 11th in the country for total installed solar capacity, with enough solar installed to power over 585,000 homes. But before you add your home to that number, you’re probably wondering about the price tag of solar panels in Virginia.
Solar Installation Costs in Virginia
The average solar power system in Virginia costs $3 per watt, with a five kilowatt system costing around $15,000. That figure does not include incentives, which will lower the cost of solar — more on those below. And you’ll save significantly on your electric bills: per EnergySage, around $30,720 over 20 years.
Federal Solar Tax Credit and Virginia Solar Incentives
The federal solar tax credit is 30%, and will be until 2033. Expenses included are solar panels, contractor labor costs, mounting equipment, and, if you choose to add one, battery storage systems.
You can claim the tax credit the year your solar array is installed. The credit is nonrefundable, but if it’s larger than the amount you owe in taxes, you can carry the credit forward for future years.
Solar Renewable Energy Credits, or SRECs, are another financial incentive available. The passing of the Virginia Clean Economy Act in 2020 set Virginia’s Renewable Portfolio Standards, which aim for 100% clean power by 2050, and include a solar carve-out for Dominion Energy. That means Dominion must source 1% of their renewable energy generation from solar, specifically solar systems that are below one megawatt, which is most residential systems. To reach that target, Dominion purchases SRECs.
You’ll receive one SREC every time your system generates one megawatt-hour, which will happen roughly 10 times a year. Virginia’s SREC market is still relatively new, so prices aren’t as high as others in the DMV. Currently, one SREC goes for around $35. Even though Virginia’s SREC prices aren’t as high as Washington DC’s or Maryland’s, if your solar array generates 10 SRECs in a year, that’s $350 you’ll have in hand that you wouldn’t have had before solar. If you want to learn more about how SRECs work, check out our blog post.
Dominion Energy also offers net metering. That means when your solar panels generate more energy than you use, you send that power back to Dominion, and you’ll receive credit for it.
How can I pay for solar?
You can pay upfront in cash for solar panels in Virginia, but if that’s not a good fit for your budget, Uprise offers multiple solar loan options, with fixed and variable rates going out as far as 25 years, and no prepayment penalties or closing costs. We work with direct-to-consumer financial providers, and only choose to work with ones we trust. We want you to have an exceptional solar experience, and consider the financial providers we work with as part of that experience. And there’s an extra safeguard for you in the solar loans we offer: the banks don’t pay us in full until we’ve finished installing your solar system and you’ve signed off on our work.
If you have questions about payment options, please do give us a call or reach out on our website. We’d be happy to discuss your options with you.
Why should I choose Uprise for my solar project in Virginia?
We’re a local company, and our leadership team has a combined 80 years of experience in the solar industry in the DMV. Many of our team members met working for other solar companies in the area, and we joined together to offer the DMV a more reliable option. Some of us call Virginia home, so if you go solar with us instead of a large national solar company, you won’t be a number, but our neighbor.
We’re passionate about providing outstanding solar services for our community. We promise to treat your home as if it’s our own, and cover our installations with a workmanship warranty. And if you call or email us, you’ll be able to get in touch with a live, local employee. Read our reviews on Google, EnergySage, or Angi to see how we’re doing.
If you have any solar questions at all, we’d be more than happy to talk with you. Call us at (202) 750-5718 or schedule a free consultation here. We look forward to hearing from you.