Establishment of a base price for the Solar Renewable Energy Credit (SREC) from the perspective of residents and state governments in the United States

Minhyun Lee, Taehoon Hong, Hyunji Yoo, Choongwan Koo, Jimin Kim, Kwangbok Jeong, Jaewook Jeong and Changyoon Ji

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2017, vol. 75, issue C, 1066-1080

Abstract: Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SREC) in the United States (U.S.) have become an important driver for promoting the solar photovoltaic (PV) system. However, the SREC price volatility is considered the major barrier for installing the solar PV system due to the uncertainty of the revenue from selling the SREC. To address this challenge, this study aimed to establish a base price for SREC in order to encourage the installation of residential solar PV systems in the U.S. Toward this end, this study conducted the life cycle cost analysis to establish the minimum SREC prices required for reaching the target payback period of the residential solar PV system in the U.S. In addition, this study conducted the comparative analysis from the perspectives of residents and state governments by considering the SREC prices. This study was conducted in four steps: (i) target selection; (ii) data collection; (iii) defining assumptions; and (iv) establishing the minimum SREC prices. The results showed that Massachusetts and New Jersey are the most superior state from the perspective of both residents and state governments. This study can help both residents and state governments to get financial advice for installing solar PV system and improving the SREC-related policies.

Keywords: Solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems; Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SREC); Solar Alternative Compliance Payments (SACP); Payback period; Financial analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032116307481
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:75:y:2017:i:c:p:1066-1080

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.086

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().