California NEM 3.0 (NBT)

The California NEM 3.0 (NBT) governs how California credits excess solar generation sent back to the grid, one of the state's DSIRE-tracked solar policies. Eligibility is scoped to residential customers, with a stated benefit of Time-of-use export rates. DSIRE lists no scheduled sunset, though enabling legislation and appropriations can still be revised year to year.

That's the backdrop this incentive works against. California averages 5.8 kWh/m²/day of usable sunlight and residential rates of 30¢/kWh, producing an estimated 10,162 kWh/year and $3,049 of annual utility offset on a typical 6 kW system costing $19,200. That baseline already implies a 6.3-year simple payback and a 25-year modeled net of roughly $57,025 before this incentive - every dollar this net metering delivers compresses that payback further.

A handful of other levers are worth checking alongside this one. California has 5 solar incentive programs indexed in DSIRE, including adjacent options like CA Active Solar Energy System Property Tax Exclusion, CA Green Tariff/Enhanced Community Renewables, Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP). The state's net-metering policy is classified as partial, which governs how excess generation is credited and often decides whether a given program is worth claiming for a specific household.