Delaware is one of the states where a no-money-down solar offer is a real product rather than a marketing line. Both leases and power purchase agreements are authorized here, so a company genuinely can put panels on your roof at no upfront cost. That makes the question on this page different from the one most states face. It is not whether free solar exists in Delaware. It is who ends up holding the three separate pots of money a Delaware system generates.
The Route Works Here, Which Changes the Question
A free solar offer is one of two contracts. Under a power purchase agreement the company owns the system and sells you its output at a contracted price per kilowatt-hour. Under a lease the company owns the system and charges you a monthly fee that typically rises 1 to 3% a year on an escalator schedule. Delaware permits both, which puts it in a minority: 23 states either ban residential power purchase agreements or have no known programs, and 17 have no third-party offerings at all.
Before comparing offers beyond Delaware, read our free solar panel programs by state.
Because the product is real here, the risk is different too. In Alabama or Kansas the danger is that a free solar offer is not deliverable. In Delaware the danger is that it is perfectly deliverable and quietly worse than buying, because of where the incentives land.
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Compare Delaware offers side by side
Three Pots of Money and Who Ends Up With Them
A Delaware rooftop system produces value in three separate streams, and ownership decides who receives each one. This is the table to take into any sales conversation.
Stream | If you own the system | If a company owns it |
|---|---|---|
Federal tax credit | Nothing. Section 25D is $0 from January 1, 2026 | The company claims Section 48E and passes back what it chooses |
Solar renewable energy certificates | Yours to sell into the Delaware market | Usually assigned to the owner in the contract |
Bill savings from net metering | Yours, at your utility’s full retail rate (the Delaware residential average is 16.75¢/kWh) | Yours, minus the lease or power purchase payment |
The middle row is the one people miss. Delaware has a working market in solar renewable energy certificates, and under third-party ownership those certificates are typically assigned to the company in the contract, not to you. Read the certificate clause before you read the price.
Delaware also runs grant support for residential solar through the Green Energy Program rather than a state tax credit, and grants come with their own condition worth checking early: pre-approval usually has to be in place before work begins. A third-party arrangement can complicate who is eligible to apply and who receives the money. Ask which party is named on the application.
Why the Federal Credit Now Favors the Company
Until the end of 2025 this comparison was much simpler, because a Delaware homeowner who bought a system claimed 30% back themselves. Under Public Law 119-21 that credit, Section 25D, is $0 for purchased systems whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025.
What survives is Section 48E, a commercial credit worth 30% or more of eligible project cost depending on adders. A business that owns a residential system can claim it and pass some of the value to the household through a lower monthly payment or a lower price per kilowatt-hour. The phrase carrying the weight is some of the value. Nothing obliges a company to pass through all of it, and nothing on your paperwork will tell you what share you received.
There is timing on it as well. Section 48E carries a construction-start test tied to July 4, 2026, and projects that did not begin by then face a materially shorter deadline to be switched on. The switch-on deadline for projects that started construction later is shorter and still unsettled. Ask the company which test the project meets and what happens to your price if the schedule slips.
Comparing an Offer Against Buying
With 25D gone, third-party ownership has become genuinely more competitive against purchase than it was a year ago. The company gets a credit you no longer can. That is a real advantage and it belongs in the comparison.
What belongs beside it is everything ownership still gives you. Delaware credits exports at full retail value, so an owned system’s savings track your utility rate for its whole life. The certificates stay yours. There is no escalator raising your payment every year, no early termination charge, and nothing to negotiate when you sell the house.
The comparison that actually settles it is not first-year payment against first-year saving. It is total payments across the full contract term, with the escalator applied, set against total bill savings, with the certificates counted on the ownership side. Any company confident in its offer will run that for you in writing.
You Likely Will Not Qualify If
- Your credit does not clear the provider’s threshold. Third-party ownership is a twenty-year financing decision by the company, and approval turns on credit history rather than on your roof.
- Your roof needs replacing within the term. Removal and reinstallation is chargeable under most agreements, and the charge is rarely visible in the headline offer.
- You are counting on claiming the federal credit yourself. Under third-party ownership the company claims Section 48E, and Section 25D is $0 for purchased systems from January 1, 2026 in any case.
- You expected to keep and sell the certificates. Under third-party ownership they are usually assigned to the system owner in the contract.
- You started work before securing grant pre-approval. Delaware’s grant support generally requires approval in place before installation begins.
The Clauses That Separate a Good Offer From a Bad One
Because free solar is genuinely available in Delaware, the useful advice here is not whether to consider it but what to read. Five clauses decide whether an offer is fair, and none of them is the monthly payment.
- The escalator. Does the payment rise annually, and by how much. A 2.9% escalator against a utility rate that rises more slowly turns a saving into a cost partway through the term.
- The certificate assignment. Who owns the solar renewable energy certificates, stated explicitly.
- End of term. What happens after year 20 or 25: purchase option and price, renewal terms, or removal and who pays for roof repair.
- Transfer on sale. What the buyer of your house must do, and what happens if they decline to assume the agreement.
- Production guarantee. Whether output is guaranteed, and what you receive if it falls short.
Our Delaware incentives guide covers the grant and certificate detail, and the Delaware installer list covers who does the work.
Delaware Solar FAQs
You can get a system installed at no upfront cost, which is not the same as free. Delaware authorizes both leases and power purchase agreements, so a company can own panels on your roof and charge you either a monthly fee or a price per kilowatt-hour. That puts Delaware in a minority: 17 states have no third-party offerings at all. The panels remain the company’s property.
The company does. Section 25D, the credit a homeowner used to claim, is $0 for purchased systems whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025. What survives is Section 48E, a commercial credit claimed by the business that owns the system, which passes some of the value back through a lower payment. Nothing requires it to pass through all of it, and your paperwork will not show what share you received.
Usually the company, by assignment in the contract. Delaware has a working market in solar renewable energy certificates, and they are a genuine third stream of value alongside the tax credit and the bill savings. If you own the system they are yours to sell. Read the certificate clause before you read the monthly price, because it is rarely highlighted.
It is more competitive than it was, because the company can claim a credit you no longer can. Against that, ownership keeps net metering savings at your utility’s full retail rate (the Delaware residential average is 16.75¢/kWh) for the system’s life, keeps the certificates, and carries no escalator, no termination charge and no transfer negotiation when you sell. Compare total payments across the full term against total savings, not first-year figures.
Five clauses, none of which is the monthly payment. The escalator and how fast it rises. Who is assigned the solar renewable energy certificates. What happens at end of term, including purchase price or removal and roof repair. What a buyer of your house must do if you sell. And whether production is guaranteed, with what remedy if it falls short.
Compare the whole term, not the first year. Enter your ZIP code to see what Delaware companies are offering.
Model the full term before you sign
References & Research Sources
The program terms and figures above come from the records below. The switch-on deadline for 48E projects that began construction after July 4, 2026 is still unsettled; require any provider to state a project’s deadline in writing. Contract terms described are general to third-party ownership and are not a substitute for reading your own agreement. Sources accessed between June 10 and August 17, 2026.
- pv magazine USA. States without residential solar third-party ownership may become holes in the market after 2025. Analysis drawing on DSIRE and US Energy Information Administration data: the 23-state, six-lease-only and 17-state counts, with Delaware outside those groups. Dated July 22, 2025. Accessed August 17, 2026.
- Delaware General Assembly. 26 Del. C. section 1014. Full retail value net metering, the 25 kW residential limit, and the authorization of leases and third-party power purchase agreements. Accessed August 17, 2026.
- DSIRE (NC Clean Energy Technology Center). Delaware net metering program record. The program parameters behind the net metering summary, the solar renewable energy certificate market, and the Green Energy Program grant support requiring pre-approval before work begins. Accessed August 17, 2026.
- US Energy Information Administration. Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A: Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers. The Delaware statewide average residential rate of 16.75¢ per kWh used on this page as labeled context. Accessed August 17, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service. One, Big, Beautiful Bill provisions. The Public Law 119-21 termination of Section 25D for purchased systems whose installation is completed after December 31, 2025, and the availability of the Section 48E clean electricity investment credit to business owners of residential systems, including its construction-start test tied to July 4, 2026. Accessed August 17, 2026.
