Delaware's Green Energy Program: what it pays, what it costs you, and what else is on the table

As the overview page covers, the federal Residential Clean Energy Credit — 30% of system cost — ended for any system installed after December 31, 2025. What's left for a Delaware homeowner going solar today is a state rebate (this page), statewide net metering, sellable SRECs, and a state-backed loan. They are not all independent of each other — taking the Green Energy Program's cash rebate has a real trade-off, covered below, that's easy to miss if you only skim the rate table.

These rates took effect July 1, 2026 and apply only to customers of Delmarva Power and Light (DPL) — the program is funded through a public-benefits charge collected from DPL customers' bills, so it doesn't extend to Delaware Electric Cooperative or municipal-utility customers. If you're on one of those systems, DNREC's page states they run comparable programs of their own; contact your utility directly, as we could not confirm current dollar amounts for those from a primary source.

Since August 2026 the program has also offered a battery rebate for Delmarva customers who pair storage with solar; see our post on the Solar + Storage Pilot.

• 50% cost ceiling. No Green Energy Program grant, at any tier, can exceed 50% of the total project cost — the rebate is a partial match, not a majority of the bill.
• $6.00-per-watt cost cap. The total project cost must come in at $6.00/watt or less to qualify for any grant. DNREC's incentive document notes this cap "may be adjusted in the future if dictated by market trends" — get a written quote from your installer and check it against the current cap before assuming eligibility.
• A Solar Shade Analysis is required. Every application's Part 1 must include a Solar Shade Analysis with a Total Solar Resource Fraction (TSRF) of 70% or greater — a shaded roof can fail this test outright, regardless of system size or cost.
• File within 12 months of completion. Applications submitted more than 12 months after installation is completed are considered ineligible — this isn't a "whenever you get around to it" rebate.

Net metering is separate from the Green Energy Program rebate and isn't limited to Delmarva Power customers. Under 26 Del. C. §1014, Delmarva Power, Delaware Electric Cooperative, and Delaware's municipal electric utilities are all required to offer it. Residential systems are generally capped at 25 kW. Excess generation in a given month is credited against future monthly bills, and — this is worth getting right, because summaries of this rule vary — the statute's own language says unused "Excess kWh Credits" carry over to subsequent annualized billing periods rather than expiring: "Excess kWh Credits at the end of an annualized billing period shall carry over to subsequent annualized billing periods." Utilities may cap how much non-residential (non-farm) customers can carry forward during certain rate-exemption periods, but the statute's plain text does not describe residential credits being forfeited or zeroed out at year's end. If your utility's own program materials describe your credits differently, that's worth asking about directly — but read the underlying statute yourself rather than taking a secondhand summary's word for it, including this page's. For how a credit is valued on a Delmarva bill since January 2024, and the 110% sizing limit, see our net metering explainer.

Beyond rebates and credits, Energize Delaware — the state's energy-efficiency utility — runs a Residential Solar Loan separate from the Green Energy Program grant:

Energize Delaware separately runs a general Home Energy-Efficiency Loan (5.99% fixed, $1,000–$50,000, up to 10 years) for non-solar home energy work tied to a completed energy audit — it's not solar-specific, but worth knowing about if a project bundles solar with other efficiency upgrades.