Virginia SRECs 101

Virginia’s Renewable Portfolio Standard

• Virginia’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requires that 100% of the state’s electricity provided by the state’s largest utility, Dominion, be sourced from renewable energy by 2045 and 100% of the state’s electricity provided by the smaller utility, Appalachian Power Co., be sourced from renewable energy by 2050.
• For any given compliance year, Dominion must procure at least one percent (1%) of their RPS obligation from distributed solar, wind, or anaerobic digestion resources.
• The deficiency payment, the penalty fee levied on utilities when they do not procure enough RECs within Virginia from solar, wind, or anaerobic digesters, is currently set at $75 per megawatt hour (1000 kWh) and will increase by one percent (1%) year-over-year after 2021.
• Solar owners should sign up for SRECs as soon as possible, since electricity produced before registration may not be eligible for SREC production.
• SRECs can be sold for up to five calendar years after their date of creation in Virginia. Therefore, customers with GATS-registered systems who generate an SREC today will be able to sell their SREC up until the end of 2026.
• Please note, as we wait for finalized information from the SCC on the Virginia SREC market, your SRECs up to three years old can be sold in Pennsylvania’s Tier I REC market. Therefore, Virginia customers who have GATS-registered systems will still be able to sell their SRECs, provided they were generated in the last three years.
• If you would like to learn more about Virginia’s RPS you can visit the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s (SCC) website.

Registration Guidelines

• Customers must submit a copy of their signed interconnection agreement and a signed contract before we can register the solar energy system.
• Upon receipt of all documentation, Sol Systems will register a customer’s solar energy system with the the Generation Attribute Tracking System (GATS), the regulatory body that mints SRECs.
• Sol Systems does not charge a registration fee.

Payment Timeline

Sol Systems makes payments to Sol Annuity, Sol Brokerage, Sol Combo, and Sol Profit Share customers on a quarterly basis per the following schedule.

For example, on the last business day in May, Sol Systems will issue payments to customers whose energy production passes a 1000 kWh threshold in Quarter 1 (January-March) and their SREC has sold.

Sol Systems customers can receive their payment via paper check or direct deposit.