Energy Trust’s Solar program will shift to a flat incentive rate for standard residential solar projects, effective January 3, 2022. Residential customers will be eligible for $1,200 in Portland General Electric territory and $900 in Pacific Power territory—regardless of system size. Solar Within Reach residential customers will continue to be eligible for capacity-based incentives. The 2022 Solar Incentive Status Report will be posted in December 2021 with more detail about initial and upcoming incentive allocations. Bookmark and check the Solar Status Report to stay up-to-date on all incentives. 

As incentive rates and project caps have decreased over time, most applications qualify for the maximum project incentive—essentially mimicking a flat rate offer. If the same capacity-based incentive structure were to continue in 2022, we estimate 85% of applications submitted in 2021 would have hit the project cap and automatically qualified for a maximum incentive.  

Incentives will continue to be allocated in “steps” and will gradually reduce over time to support the most projects with Energy Trust’s limited budget. With a fixed incentive amount per project and fixed allocations, staff, trade allies, and Energy Trust stakeholders will have greater clarity as to precisely how many projects can be funded in each allocation, providing greater predictability. 

Lastly, a flat incentive for standard residential solar projects will allow the Solar program to explore offering incentive adders (such as incentives for smart inverters or smart batteries). These possible incentive offers may be layered with existing offers, providing increased financial support for projects that bring multiple values together for the customer, the community, or the grid. 

For more information about the new flat-rate incentives, please contact the Solar program at solar@energytrust.org.