Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy has introduced Solar*Rewards, a program that offers incentives to Minnesota electricity customers to install solar panels on top of their homes and businesses.
The utility will make a one-time payment of $2.25 per installed watt of generating capacity to help offset the cost to customers who install small or medium rooftop photovoltaic systems. For an average-size residential installation of 3.5 kW, the incentive payment would be $7,875, or about 30% of the installation costs, the utility says.
Solar*Rewards participants must agree to install a system with a capacity of 0.5 kW to 40 kW. In exchange for the incentive payment, ownership of the renewable energy certificates produced by the system will transfer to Xcel Energy for a term of 20 years. Xcel Energy will also buy any energy that a system produces in excess of the customer's needs.  Â
Through Solar*Rewards, Xcel Energy plans to support the installation of about 2 MW of solar energy each year for the next three years, or approximately 450 installed systems annually.
SOURCE: Xcel Energy
