Solar power generators have a variety of sales options available. This can create confusion for new market entrants who are trying to determine the most appropriate sales strategy for the technology they are looking to employ. This paper addresses this confusion by explaining the basic options that exist in California for the sale of solar distributed generation to an interconnected utility. These options include (i) net metering, (ii) feed-in tariff sales, (iii) RPS contracts, and (iv) PURPA sales. This paper summarizes each of these options, focusing on significant advantages and disadvantages of each and identifying the types of technology and business model for which each option may be best suited. The paper also makes a closer examination of some of the key aspects of each option, including capacity limitations, available pricing, incentive eligibility, and conveyance of environmental attributes, or RECs.
展开▼
