State solar profile · #16 of 51
Solar in New Jersey: fast payback · high rates
New Jersey clears a modeled 12.8-yr break-even (#16 of 51) at 18.5¢/kWh and 4.5 kWh/m²/day, with 4 DSIRE programs in the stack.
- 4.5
- kWh/m²/day irradiance
- 18.5¢
- avg electricity rate
- 12.8 yr
- payback (#16)
- 4
- incentive programs
NREL/EIA solar strip
Nameplate NJ · New Jersey score #16/51
New Jersey | 34/100 | 12.8 yr payback | 1.2 GW
- NEM 34/100
- PHOTO #16/51
- BOOK 4.5 kWh
- VS-AVG 18.5c/kWh
- GW 12.8 yr
- IRR 1.2 GW
- STRIP 4 programs
- FORM860 near New Hampshire
Stamps derive from this state's NREL irradiance, EIA Form 860 / Electric Power Monthly nameplate, and DSIRE incentive row (score, rank, sun, rate, payback, capacity, programs, peer), not a quote or site assessment. Modeled figures use a typical 6 kW system; your roof, shading, and utility tariff decide the real return. See our disclaimer. Verify with EIA Form 860 → · Read with methodology → · Net-metering guide → · Personalized estimate → · All state rows → · States ranked → · Payback vs U.S. avg (14.2 yr): 1.4 yr faster
Modeled 6 kW payback · New Jersey and nearest peers
Shorter bars = faster simple payback on the NREL/EIA model
- NV
Nevada
12 years
- FL
Florida
12 years
- CO
Colorado
12 years
- NJ
New Jersey
13 years
- DC
District of Columbia
13 years
- KS
Kansas
14 years
What this shows New Jersey sits at 12.8 years among nearest payback peers (1.4 yr faster vs the 14.2-yr U.S. average).
Fast-band 25-year ROI · New Jersey
$18,600
system cost
$1,459/yr
modeled savings
12.8 yr
break-even
+$17,875
25-year net
At $18,600 and $1,459/yr, New Jersey is already in the faster third of modeled paybacks. Roof, shading, and tariff still move the real number. Run a personalized estimate →
Installed solar capacity in New Jersey, 2007–2024
Total solar nameplate capacity in New Jersey reported to the EIA, utility-scale and reported distributed systems. The number of reporting facilities grew 329x (1 to 329) between 2007 and 2024, and the average site size grew from 2 MW to 4 MW per site, a shift toward larger utility-scale installations.
New Jersey: modest sun, still fast payback
Irradiance 4.5 kWh/m²/day (below the 4.8 national mean) vs 12.8-yr payback (fast band vs 14.2-yr mean). Crosshairs mark those means.
Solar & grid details
- Net-metering policy
- full
- Renewable portfolio standard
- Mandatory (50% by 2030)
- Installed cost / watt
- $3.10/W
- Annual production (6 kW)
- 7,884 kWh
- Installed capacity (EIA 2024)
- 1.2 GW
- Notable programs
- NJ TREC/SREC-II, Transition Incentive Program
Top incentive programs
4 programs available for New Jersey residents
All New Jersey solar incentives (4)
NJ Renewable Energy Property Tax Exemption
Full property tax exemption
Solar systems added to NJ residential properties are fully exempt from property tax.
Tax exemptionNJ Solar Sales Tax Exemption
Sales tax exemption
New Jersey exempts solar energy equipment from state sales tax.
Net meteringNJ Net Metering
Retail rate credit
New Jersey provides full retail net metering for systems up to 2 MW.
SREC / renewable creditNJ Transition Renewable Energy Certificate (TREC/SREC-II)
$90-$152/SREC (2026 prices)
NJ solar owners earn SRECs for each MWh produced, among the highest SREC values in the US.
Other fast-payback peers for New Jersey
Two non-geographic peer sets for New Jersey: composite score neighbors and payback-year neighbors (deduped so each row links a distinct comparison).
Similar composite solar score
Nearest nationwide matches on the NREL/EIA/DSIRE blend (34/100 here).
- New Hampshire · score 34/100
- South Carolina · score 34/100
- North Carolina · score 33/100
- District of Columbia · score 32/100
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on published composite scores and modeled 6 kW payback years; rankings above use the same fields but sort the full corpus.
Solar resource from NREL; electricity rates and installed capacity from the U.S. EIA; incentive programs from DSIRE. See our methodology.