DE · Solar

Solar quotes in Wilmington, DE.

One real quote from a vetted local Wilmington installer, sized to your roof, your bill, and every federal + state rebate you qualify for.

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7 kW
Average system size: $2.95/W
Average cost (USD): 9 yrs
Average payback: 40+
Local installers

Why solar in Wilmington

Wilmington is the one major Delaware city served by Delmarva Power rather than by a municipal utility, and that makes it the one place where the Green Energy Program grant most solar coverage describes actually applies. DNREC administers it, the rate has been around $0.70 per watt up to a maximum of $6,000 for a residential system, and it comes with two prerequisites that catch people out.

What the grant pays and why it is Delmarva only

The Green Energy Program provides grants offsetting the installed cost of renewable energy technologies including solar photovoltaics. For residential systems under 50 kW the rate has been around $0.70 per watt, capped at $6,000.

A system of roughly 8.5 kW or larger reaches that cap, so for a typical Wilmington installation the $6,000 ceiling is the binding figure rather than the per-watt rate.

It is funded by a public benefits fund charge on Delmarva Power bills, at $0.000356 per kWh consumed. That is why eligibility is limited to Delmarva customers: they are the ones who paid into it.

Nine Delaware towns run their own municipal utilities and their customers are outside this programme entirely, which is why so much Delaware solar coverage does not describe most of the state.

The two prerequisites that come before the money

An acceptable energy audit has to be completed before the application. That is a real step with its own timeline, and it is the most common reason a project stalls.

An approved contractor has to be selected. Hiring a good installer who is not on the approved list forfeits the grant, in the same way an Energy Trust trade ally requirement does in Oregon.

Applications then run through the Green Grant Delaware online system rather than being handled by the installer as an afterthought.

Ask any installer, before anything else, whether they are an approved contractor for the programme, and verify it rather than accepting the answer. Then ask who arranges the energy audit and when.

The audit is worth doing properly

An energy audit required as a bureaucratic step is easy to treat as a formality, and that is a mistake. Efficiency work is frequently cheaper per dollar saved than generation.

If the audit identifies meaningful measures, doing them first reduces the consumption a solar system has to cover, which usually means a smaller and better-matched array.

Ask whether the proposed system was sized before or after the audit findings were considered. Sizing to a consumption figure you are about to reduce is a common and expensive sequencing error.

Ask for the audit report itself rather than a summary. It is a document you paid for, directly or through the programme, and it is useful beyond the grant application.

Three pieces, and how they stack

The 30 percent federal Residential Clean Energy Credit under Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, so a cash or loan purchase in Wilmington receives no federal tax credit.

Section 48E survives at 30 percent for third-party owners under leases and power purchase agreements, so ask what a provider claims and what reaches you in the rate.

What exists is the Green Energy Program grant at around $0.70 per watt up to $6,000, net metering to 25 kW credited in kilowatt hours, and SREC income through the Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility.

Ask for all three as separate lines, and confirm the current grant rate and cap with DNREC before letting a quote include them.

Incentives & rebates

Net metering: Net metering to 25 kW residential, credited in kilowatt hours

All Delaware electric utilities offer net metering, and the rules work broadly the same way across Delmarva Power, Delaware Electric Cooperative and the municipal electric companies. Residential systems are eligible up to 25 kW, which is far above what an ordinary household would install, so the cap is rarely the binding constraint. The detail worth understanding is that credits are denominated in kilowatt hours rather than in dollars. That distinction is more valuable than it sounds. A dollar credit is fixed at the rate in force when it was earned, so it loses purchasing power if electricity prices rise. A kilowatt hour credit is a claim on a unit of electricity, so it holds its value against future rate increases automatically. In a state where retail rates have generally risen, that is a quiet but real advantage over the states that credit in currency. Delaware also runs a Solar Renewable Energy Credit programme through the Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility, using competitive procurement rather than an open trading market, which produces a separate income stream from the environmental attributes of your generation, reported at around $30 per SREC for the first ten years and $10 for years eleven to twenty-five, on roughly 1.35 SRECs per installed kW per year. Because net metering, the grant programme and the SREC arrangement are three separate things, ask for each to appear as its own line in a projection rather than being combined into a single savings figure.

Related Delaware resources

Delaware solar incentives & rebates Full breakdown of federal, provincial, and utility programs.

How payback works in Delaware

System cost: $20,650
Estimated net cost: $20,650
Estimated payback: ~12.7 years
25-year net savings: ~$19,850

These figures are illustrative; your actual quote reflects your roof, sun exposure, and local utility rates.

Frequently asked questions

How much is the Delaware Green Energy Program grant?

Around $0.70 per watt for residential systems under 50 kW, capped at $6,000. A system of roughly 8.5 kW or larger reaches the cap, so for a typical installation the $6,000 ceiling is the binding figure.

Who can get it?

Delmarva Power customers only. It is funded by a public benefits fund charge on Delmarva bills at $0.000356 per kWh consumed, so the nine Delaware towns with municipal electric utilities are outside the programme.

What has to happen before I can apply?

An acceptable energy audit must be completed and an approved contractor selected, then the application runs through the Green Grant Delaware online system. Hiring an installer who is not on the approved list forfeits the grant.

Is the energy audit just a formality?

It should not be treated as one. Efficiency work is often cheaper per dollar saved than generation, and doing it first reduces the consumption the system has to cover. Ask whether the system was sized before or after the audit findings.