First, you will need enough Roof Space for solar to be worth it for your business. There are businesses that would love to have solar but a lack of clear roof space, can make things difficult.
For example, some office buildings can put solar on, but the amount of output can be relatively small compared to its usage. A lack of usage can limit solar’ s usefulness as you need to be consuming the power that it generates to make it economically viable.
Next, even if you have a large roof, but don’t use a lot of power than solar may not suit.
For example a storage warehouse, it may have a great roof but may just use only a few lights and little else, so the power produced will be exported for little or no benefit.
What do we mean by Timeline? Solar might not suit your business if you don’t have the right timeframe.
For example, you might be in a short term lease or might be moving buildings soon. If you can’t see yourself being in the premises for at least 5 years, then the decision becomes clouded.
Finally, we will still need to know what you are currently paying for power. Some businesses and retailers offer competitive rates that in the end will affect your solar savings projections.
As mentioned before, if it doesn’t make sense for your business financially, then we won’t install it.
Small-Scale Technology Certificates (STCs) are a financial incentive (under SRES) for residential and business owners to install small scale solar installations that are under 100kW. The number of STCs issued is based on how much electricity the system will generate until 2031, with one STC being the equivalent of one megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity. STCs are like an electronic form of renewable energy currency that can be purchased, sold and traded on an open market. They are commonly allocated to the system provider in exchange for a discount on the purchase price. Their value fluctuates with supply and demand.
For example, a 100kW system (approx. 300-400 panels) will produce around 1,934MWh worth of electricity until 2031, meaning your business would currently receive 1,934 STCs.
If the value of an STC is $31, you’d receive a $59,954 up-front discount off the cost of a 100kW system.
The financial incentive (under LRET) for large scale renewable energy installations such as Solar PV Systems, above 100kW is called Large-Scale Generation Certificates (LGCs), which involves the system has undergoing an accreditation process. One LGC can be created for every megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity generated. Like STCs, LGCs can be purchased, sold and traded on an open market and their value fluctuates according to supply and demand.
However, the key difference between STCs and LGCs is that LGCs are produced on an on-going basis (once the system has been installed, is producing electricity, and has undergone the accreditation process) as opposed to STCs which are created up-front.
For example, a 200kW system would produce an average solar output of 320,000kWh, or 320MWh. This means they would produce 320 LGCS.
If LGCs are currently trading for $45, this means a 200kW system would receive around $14,400 per year in government incentives.