Utah

Utah Rebates and Incentives Summary

Utah Solar Rebates and IncentivesUtah is home to true wonders of nature: Arches National Park, Moab, Canyonlands, and the Great Salt Lake. Given the harsh desert climate, it’s hard for most things other than rock to retain color, as the pounding desert sun bleaches everything. But that sun also makes Utah an ideal state for solar energy development. And because of the climate, it is among the sunniest states in the country’s solar belt.

Parts of the state get upwards of 6.5 or more kilowatt hours of sunlight per square meter, and most of the state gets an average of 6.0 kWh of sunlight per square meter. The only states that get more overall sun are Arizona and Nevada. Despite this rich resource, the state still has a long way to go in terms of adopting solar and renewable energy.

For instance, the Open PV project, a database of installed solar projects throughout the United States, reports only one PV installation in the state. While that’s not indicative of the Utah market, it is telling. To help people in the state adopt more PV, Utah offers net metering, solar tax credits, and the state and some Utah utilities offer rebates to residents that install photovoltaics (PVs) and other renewables on their homes and businesses.

The state adopted a voluntary renewable portfolio goal, under which utilities need to pursue renewable energy, only if it is cost-effective. The goal, while similar to a renewable portfolio standard, does not ultimately establish renewable generation requirements for utilities. It was established under The Energy Resource and Carbon Emission Reduction Initiative, which passed in March 2008.

Under the goal, utilities must assess the cost-effectiveness of adding “qualifying electricity” that will generate electricity at the lowest reasonable costs. Qualifying generation includes renewables like wind and solar, and also nuclear energy, as well as some fossil fuel generation with carbon sequestration technologies. Under the goal, 20 percent of a utility’s electric generation must come from qualifying sources by 2025.

The majority of Utah’s current electricity generation comes from coal-fired power plants, according to the DOE’s Energy Information Administration. Two geothermal power plants, as well as natural gas-fired and hydroelectric generation provide the rest of the state’s electricity needs.

Utah Net Metering

Program Type Net Metering
Technologies Photovoltaics, Solar Thermal, and other renewables 
Amount Up to 25 kW for residential systems                                                                                      
Required Documentation Interconnection agreement with customer-generator’s utility
Official Web Site http://geology.utah.gov/
Under Utah’s net-metering law, all electric generating investor-owned utilities and cooperative utilities must offer their customers net-metering for renewable energy systems. Municipal utilities are not required to offer net metering under the law. Investor-owned utilities, like Rocky Mountain Power—currently the only such utility—must net meter up to 20 percent of its 2007 peak demand, while cooperatives must net meter up to 0.1 percent of their 2007 peak demand.

Rocky Mountain Power credits customers at retail rate. Electric cooperatives reimburse customers at their avoided cost rate for generating additional electric.

Net excess generation produced by customers is credited forward on a monthly basis for up to 12 months. At that time any overall net excess generation is credited back to the utility without additional compensation to the customer. Credits revert back to the utility on March 31 of each year.

Under the net-metering law, residential customers may net meter systems up to 25 kW in size, and commercial customers may net meter systems up to 2 megawatts in size. Customer-generated electricity may be from solar, wind, small hydropower, co-generation, or fuel cell systems of up to 25 kW in size for residential systems and 2 megawatts for commercial systems.

Some cities or municipalities have also established net-metering rules for their customers; check the program site for details about net metering in individual cities.

Under the state’s interconnection requirements, a disconnect switch is not required for systems under 10 kW and may be required for a net-metered system up to 2 megawatts, depending on how the system is set up.