NJ SREC program uncertainty - is it too risky to sign up now?

[petesamprs]

Good to know. Here's my situation:
- Have cable internet through Optimum
- Coax comes into house in basement right next to electrical panels. There is where I plan on keeping the inverter
- Coax runs from up frm basement to attic and then down to 2nd floor office where cable modem/router sit. Some items are hardwired to router in office.

I'll look into the wifi/coax bridge solutions.

[JSchnee21]

Did a quick search. Looks like the Optimum router does not natively support MOCA (like the FIOS router does). But that's not a problem. It just means you need to buy two adapters to start your MOCA network. If you choose to add more (than two) in the future (I use one for each location in my house where I have a Roku/TV/Game Console) you only need to add one at a time from that point on as they talk to each other in a MESH like configuration. So you need at least two to get started.

One would be connected to the Ethernet on the back of your Optimum router. The other(s) would be in your basement, office, family room, bedrooms, etc. were you have other network devices (computers, TV's Streaming boxes) that you'd prefer to have a hard wired connected for instead of Wifi. In these locations you would take the Ethernet out of the MOCA bridge and connect it directly to the device. Or use a small Ethernet switch as well if you have lots of devices.

https://www.actiontec.com/products/home-networking/ecb6200/

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013J7O3X0/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B013J7O3X0&linkCode=as2&tag=actiontec-20&linkId=c913a93f4500de56111a1d77f4b36795

The one in my bedroom (far from MOCA connected to router) occasionally drops off and I might have to reset it a few times a year. The only in the family room right above the router works great. I typically see 400Mbit+ sustained transfers from my FIOS Gigabit over MOCA. This is generally at least 2 to 4x faster than my 802.11ac Wireless.

[sunpoweredev]

I asked this very same question right after I signed the contract and while I could still cancel, that if I can be certain by the time my system is installed and passed all inspections that the SREC registration window wouldn't close on me. I emailed njcleanenergy and they promptly replied. The rep sent me a pdf with their projection of when the 5.1% cutoff is met, which at the time was May of 2020. I'll attach that page below. If GPE says your system will be up by year's end then you're well within the timeframe.

I'm one of those with the 10yr SREC term. I now have 3 SREC certificates which I will look into selling shortly.

It's probably too late now to ask for the consumption meter to be thrown in, but you got a great price at $2.87/watt. I paid $2.91 with the same equipment on a 12.21kW system. I lucked out with getting the consumption meter to which I was quoted $800 which I declined. For some reason when my equipment arrived, it came with the consumption meter and I was able to get the electrician to install it for me.

My inverter is in my garage. I have a wireless bridge in my garage which has been working perfectly. I told the installer the can keep the cellular module lol. But since your coax goes to where your inverter is which then goes into where your cable modem is, it shouldn't be too difficult to drop an Ethernet wire back down your basement right? The install crew will be running wires into your attic and basement anyway. Perhaps you can offer to buy them lunch or dinner and ask them to run 1 extra wire for you. Should be a piece of cake for them.

srec.JPG

[njdealguy]

Hi just curious as to if you got the 2.87 per watt quote from GPE right off the bat or was after some back and forth negotiations? Back in August when I talked to them quoted me something like 3.10 a watt for Panasonics with solaredge inverter or 2.84 for Hanwha qcells. This was for systems of about half your size, of about 26 325w panels.

I do think should be safe to receive the 10 year NJ srec program in it's current form as long as the PTO is received by end of March next year by when the projections seems to be cutting close to hitting the 5.1% threshold

[petesamprs]

I asked this very same question right after I signed the contract and while I could still cancel, that if I can be certain by the time my system is installed and passed all inspections that the SREC registration window wouldn't close on me. I emailed njcleanenergy and they promptly replied. The rep sent me a pdf with their projection of when the 5.1% cutoff is met, which at the time was May of 2020. I'll attach that page below. If GPE says your system will be up by year's end then you're well within the timeframe.

How long ago did you reach out to them? I keep hearing the 5.1% threshold is creeping up faster than ppl originally thought, given the rush to get systems installed before year end.

Also, my $2.87/watt price sounds good, but remember mine is a 15kw system which is somewhat large. The price/watt will be lower the larger your system goes, given the fixed cost is spread out. In fact with silfab panels I would have been closer to $2.60/watt.

[sunpoweredev]

How long ago did you reach out to them? I keep hearing the 5.1% threshold is creeping up faster than ppl originally thought, given the rush to get systems installed before year end.

Also, my $2.87/watt price sounds good, but remember mine is a 15kw system which is somewhat large. The price/watt will be lower the larger your system goes, given the fixed cost is spread out. In fact with silfab panels I would have been closer to $2.60/watt.

This was in April this year when the njcleanenergy rep sent me that PDF. Who is your salesman at GPE? They should definitely have more up to date info on that. I would ask your salesman.

I was quoted $2.63/watt for Hanwha IIRC. I imagine your system having 10 more panels than mine also helped drive the price down a bit.

@njdealguy, they give better pricing on cash purchases vs financing. My guess is petesamprs' $2.87/watt is a cash purchase.

[njdealguy]

This was in April this year when the njcleanenergy rep sent me that PDF. Who is your salesman at GPE? They should definitely have more up to date info on that. I would ask your salesman.

I was quoted $2.63/watt for Hanwha IIRC. I imagine your system having 10 more panels than mine also helped drive the price down a bit.

@njdealguy, they give better pricing on cash purchases vs financing. My guess is petesamprs' $2.87/watt is a cash purchase.

I guess its mostly because of the system size being twice of mine which is 28 310W panels = 8.68kW

Mine was also a full cash purchase with no financing, including the quote from GPE being based on cash purchase. Ultimately we went with the installer SolarMe based in South Amboy, NJ who did a great job installing the system of Silfab SLA-m 310M panels with Enphase IQ7 microinverters for about $2.84 a watt. The town inspection was just completed last week and am awaiting the approval and PTO from PSE&G hopefully later this month.

Speaking of financing interestingly another NJ company Sea Bright solar was offering me approximately 7 cents a watt discount for Sunpower panels for choosing to finance instead of a cash purchase, suggesting can pay it off soon after installation with no prepayment penalty. I guess the discount was due to some incentive they received from the bank.

On another note really hope the SREC program hangs on for at least the next few months into next year as saw this article on the GPE website which matches what the sales rep I spoke to from GPE suggested to me back in August about supposedly hitting the 5.1% threshold sometime in November after which the value paid per srec would be reduced by 20% as per following article ("So instead of 1 SREC per every 1,000 kWhrs, it will be .8 SRECs for every 1,000 kWhrs."):

https://greenpowerenergy.com/what-is...with-nj-srecs/

[petesamprs]

On another note really hope the SREC program hangs on for at least the next few months into next year as saw this article on the GPE website which matches what the sales rep I spoke to from GPE suggested to me back in August about supposedly hitting the 5.1% threshold sometime in November after which the value paid per srec would be reduced by 20% as per following article ("So instead of 1 SREC per every 1,000 kWhrs, it will be .8 SRECs for every 1,000 kWhrs."):
https://greenpowerenergy.com/what-is...with-nj-srecs/

That is what GPE is telling me as well, but I see no reference to that anywhere else aside from GPE. The official transition proposal document I linked above does not mention a reduction of 20% as an interim step. So basically there's no clear guidance and those of us in the installation phase now are going in somewhat blind.

[sunpoweredev]

I guess its mostly because of the system size being twice of mine which is 28 310W panels = 8.68kW

Mine was also a full cash purchase with no financing, including the quote from GPE being based on cash purchase. Ultimately we went with the installer SolarMe based in South Amboy, NJ who did a great job installing the system of Silfab SLA-m 310M panels with Enphase IQ7 microinverters for about $2.84 a watt. The town inspection was just completed last week and am awaiting the approval and PTO from PSE&G hopefully later this month.

Speaking of financing interestingly another NJ company Sea Bright solar was offering me approximately 7 cents a watt discount for Sunpower panels for choosing to finance instead of a cash purchase, suggesting can pay it off soon after installation with no prepayment penalty. I guess the discount was due to some incentive they received from the bank.

On another note really hope the SREC program hangs on for at least the next few months into next year as saw this article on the GPE website which matches what the sales rep I spoke to from GPE suggested to me back in August about supposedly hitting the 5.1% threshold sometime in November after which the value paid per srec would be reduced by 20% as per following article ("So instead of 1 SREC per every 1,000 kWhrs, it will be .8 SRECs for every 1,000 kWhrs."):

https://greenpowerenergy.com/what-is...with-nj-srecs/

Yes of course system sizing will also affect pricing.

Probably not relevant here but I thought I'd share how I found GPE when I was going through the quotes I received from Energy Sage, which did not include a quote from GPE. In researching those installers is how I found this forum. I was very close to going with one of those installers, who according to Energy Sage at the time had over 3000 residential installations since 2008. And then I looked up the installation report (can be found here) and it showed that their completed installations was less than 20. In digging deeper, I stumbled on a Reddit thread from around 2015 IIRC asking for advice on a startup solar company. Similar story with a second installer off Energy Sage. I lurked this forum for a few weeks before finding and going with GPE.

MOD NOTE: Post included 2 links so it went to moderation. I have approved it.