Is Solar Worth It in Delaware in 2026?
Delaware isn't a Sunshine State pitch — it's a rates pitch. At 39.4°N the sun sits lower than it does in Florida or Georgia, and a Wilmington-area system produces around 1,312 kWh per installed kilowatt per year, well below the Sun Belt. What makes Delaware interesting anyway is the electricity bill: residents pay about 17.1¢ per kWh, among the higher rates on the East Coast, and that number has climbed roughly 90 percent since 2005. A modest-producing panel still pays back faster when the power it replaces keeps getting pricier.
2026 also brought two real changes, one bad and one good. The bad one: the 30 percent federal tax credit is gone for systems completed after December 31, 2025 — no phase-out, just gone for anyone who owns their system outright. The good one: Delaware just removed the statewide cap that limited how many homes could enroll in net metering, so a program drifting toward "waitlist" territory is open again. No state offsets the scale of the lost federal credit, but between a no-sales-tax state, a real (if capped) upfront rebate, and an SREC market that pays for a decade after, Delaware still gives an honest buyer something to work with. This page has the numbers.
Delaware Electricity Prices Keep Climbing
Every kilowatt-hour your roof makes is one you don't buy from Delmarva Power or your co-op. So before panels, look at where the price of that alternative has been heading — this is federal EIA data, not a solar company's chart.
Full Delaware electricity price data (1990–2025)
| Year | Delaware (¢/kWh) | US avg (¢/kWh) |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 8.4 | 7.8 |
| 1991 | 8.6 | 8.0 |
| 1992 | 8.7 | 8.2 |
| 1993 | 9.0 | 8.3 |
| 1994 | 8.9 | 8.4 |
| 1995 | 9.1 | 8.4 |
| 1996 | 9.0 | 8.4 |
| 1997 | 9.2 | 8.4 |
| 1998 | 9.1 | 8.3 |
| 1999 | 9.2 | 8.2 |
| 2000 | 8.5 | 8.2 |
| 2001 | 8.6 | 8.6 |
| 2002 | 8.7 | 8.4 |
| 2003 | 8.6 | 8.7 |
| 2004 | 8.8 | 9.0 |
| 2005 | 9.0 | 9.5 |
| 2006 | 11.9 | 10.4 |
| 2007 | 13.2 | 10.7 |
| 2008 | 13.9 | 11.3 |
| 2009 | 14.1 | 11.5 |
| 2010 | 13.8 | 11.5 |
| 2011 | 13.7 | 11.7 |
| 2012 | 13.6 | 11.9 |
| 2013 | 13.0 | 12.1 |
| 2014 | 13.3 | 12.5 |
| 2015 | 13.4 | 12.7 |
| 2016 | 13.4 | 12.6 |
| 2017 | 13.4 | 12.9 |
| 2018 | 12.5 | 12.9 |
| 2019 | 12.6 | 13.0 |
| 2020 | 12.6 | 13.2 |
| 2021 | 12.5 | 13.7 |
| 2022 | 13.7 | 15.0 |
| 2023 | 15.7 | 16.0 |
| 2024 | 16.6 | 16.5 |
| 2025 * | 17.1 | 17.3 |
Source: US EIA, average residential retail electricity price. Values in cents per kWh. * 2025 is preliminary.
Delaware residential electricity ran about 17.1¢ per kWh in EIA's preliminary 2025 figures, up roughly 90 percent since 2005. The last decade alone has averaged about 2.5 percent a year — slower than the mid-2000s run-up, but a steady compounding climb, not a plateau. Delaware sits on the PJM regional grid and imports a large share of its power, so it's exposed to the same natural-gas price swings and grid-capacity costs pushing rates up across the Mid-Atlantic. A small state with an aging grid and no cheap in-state generation of its own is not a strong bet for falling prices.
The Delaware Sun, Month by Month
Panels respond to how high the sun climbs and how long it stays up, not to the thermometer. At 39.4°N, Delaware sits solidly in the mid-Atlantic sun belt — noticeably lower winter sun than Florida, but nowhere near as punishing as New England.
Delaware monthly solar production data
| Month | kWh per installed kW |
|---|---|
| Jan | 91 |
| Feb | 99 |
| Mar | 118 |
| Apr | 125 |
| May | 126 |
| Jun | 119 |
| Jul | 127 |
| Aug | 123 |
| Sep | 111 |
| Oct | 104 |
| Nov | 90 |
| Dec | 79 |
| Year | 1312 |
Source: NREL PVWatts typical-year estimate (Wilmington), per installed kW at latitude tilt.
Delaware gets roughly 198 sunny days a year — not a Sun Belt number, but respectable, and the state's mild coastal climate means less snow cover shutting panels down than you'd see further inland at the same latitude. May through August is the production sweet spot; December and January are the low point, sometimes by half. If your bills spike with summer air conditioning, that's good timing — peak sun and peak usage line up.
What Solar Costs in Delaware in 2026
EnergySage's Delaware data puts installs at roughly $2.30 to $2.40 per watt as of mid-2026 (other aggregators like SolarReviews show a wider $2.25–$3.11/W band by installer and equipment tier). Delaware's average system runs unusually large — around 14.5 kW, skewed up by bigger homes — landing a typical gross quote around $33,500 before any incentive. Here's what smaller and mid-size systems look like at the same per-watt range.
| System Size | Typical 2026 Cost | Roughly Offsets | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 kW | $11,500 to $12,000 | ~6,560 kWh/yr (~$93/mo at 17.1¢) | Smaller home, lower usage |
| 8 kW | $18,400 to $19,200 | ~10,500 kWh/yr (~$150/mo) | Average-to-larger home |
| 12 kW | $27,600 to $28,800 | ~15,700 kWh/yr (~$224/mo) | Large home, heavy usage |
Because Delaware has no state sales tax at all, there's nothing to exempt solar equipment from — you simply never pay sales tax on any of it, full stop. That's a quieter version of the exemption neighboring Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania had to write into law on purpose. With the federal credit gone, these price-per-watt numbers are close to what you'll actually pay before the state rebate below.
Estimate Your Delaware Payback
The calculator below starts from Delaware's average rate and the Wilmington-area production figure above. Enter your own monthly bill to get an estimated system size, payback period, and 25-year savings. Delaware's rate has grown about 2.5 percent a year over the last decade — a reasonable default for the inflation field, and you can drag it up or down to see how sensitive your payback is to future rate hikes.
Delaware Solar Incentives That Still Exist in 2026
Separate what's gone from what Delaware still offers.
- Gone — the 30 percent federal credit: The 25D Residential Clean Energy Credit was repealed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for installations completed after December 31, 2025. If a quote still nets out the 30 percent, ask the installer to redo the math — it's not available to a buyer in 2026.
- Still here — no sales tax, ever: Delaware is one of five states with no state sales tax at all, so solar equipment and labor were never taxed in the first place. There's no separate "exemption" to look for — it's automatic.
- Still here — the Green Energy Program rebate: Delmarva Power, Delaware Electric Cooperative, and municipal utilities administer a one-time upfront rebate of about $0.70 per watt, capped around $6,000 for a residential system, funded through DNREC/Energize Delaware. The catch: recipients typically assign their SRECs to the state as a condition of taking the rebate.
- Instead of the rebate — the SREC market: Skip the rebate and your system earns Solar Renewable Energy Credits instead, historically trading around $30 each for the first decade and roughly $10 after that. A typical ~8 kW system generating around 1.35 SRECs per kW per year works out to a few hundred dollars a year for ten years — a real but slow-drip incentive, not a lump sum.
- Uncertain — property tax: No dedicated statewide statute exempting solar's added value from your property tax assessment could be confirmed from primary sources. Don't assume protection — call your county Board of Assessment (New Castle, Kent, or Sussex) and ask directly before you install.
None of this replaces the scale of the old federal credit — treat the rebate and SRECs as ways to shorten payback at the margins, not a substitute.
Net Metering in Delaware
Delaware's net metering is set by statute (26 Del. Code §1014, with administrative rules at 26 DE Admin Code 3012) — a straightforward kWh-credit system, not a buy-all/sell-all or avoided-cost scheme. Extra generation earns an "Excess kWh Credit" that rolls forward against future bills and reconciles annually. Since a 2023 law took effect in 2024, that credit is valued at the volumetric supply-and-distribution portion of your rate — close to retail, but not the full "all-in" rate including fixed and societal-benefit charges. Residential systems are eligible up to 25 kW, sized to no more than about 110 percent of your trailing 12-month usage.
The bigger 2026 news: Governor Meyer signed SB 239 on June 10, 2026, eliminating the statewide 8 percent aggregate net-metering enrollment cap that had applied since 2022. That cap was on a real trajectory toward locking out new applicants as installations grew — if you looked into solar a year or two ago and were told to "check if the queue is still open," that gate is gone. Utilities keep a narrower exception to reject interconnection if local solar output genuinely threatens grid operation, but the blanket statewide cap is off the table.
The Quiet Advantage of Having No Sales Tax
Delaware buyers rarely think about a "solar sales tax exemption" the way Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania homeowners do — those three states all had to pass a carve-out specifically for solar because they tax everything else. Delaware never taxes anything at the point of sale, so there was never a gap to fill. It's a small, permanent, zero-paperwork edge over every neighboring state, and it applies automatically to every quote without an installer needing to file anything or you needing to ask.
How to Go Solar in Delaware
Work through these steps in order before you sign anything.
- Pull your last 12 power bills and find your true average monthly cost — Delaware winters and summers swing enough that one month will mislead you.
- Confirm your roof faces south, east, or west with minimal shading; at 39.4°N, a shaded or north-facing roof underperforms more than it would further south.
- Check your roof has at least 10 to 15 years of life left before adding panels — removal and reinstallation later costs thousands.
- Get at least three quotes at the current $2.30–$2.40/W range and confirm none of them are still assuming the expired 30 percent federal credit.
- Decide between the Green Energy Program rebate (upfront cash, give up your SRECs) and keeping your SRECs (slower, but potentially more over 25 years) — run both scenarios in the calculator above.
- Confirm your utility's current net-metering enrollment status and ask your insurer how panels affect your homeowners policy.
For how solar panels work, sizing, and buying versus leasing in general, see our main solar panels guide, and for panel wiring, inverters, and your home's electrical capacity, see our electrical guide.
Sources
Figures on this page are 2026-current. Rates: US EIA, Electric Sales, Revenue, and Average Price (2025 values preliminary). Production estimates: NREL PVWatts. Federal credit repeal: One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21). Net metering law: 26 Del. Code §1014 and 26 DE Admin Code 3012. Net-metering cap removal: Delaware SB 239, 153rd General Assembly (signed June 10, 2026). State rebate: DNREC Green Energy Program. Cost data: EnergySage Delaware Solar Panel Cost 2026. We review these figures every six months.