Looking for advice on going solar

“Dear PoPville,

I’m looking into installing solar panels on my roof. After doing a bit of research, it looks like there are two ways to go about doing this and still getting the 30% federal tax credit: keeping SRECs (solar renewable energy credits) or giving them to the panel installer to sell.

I spoke with a Solar Solution representative who told me that the way his company’s business model works is that they provide you with what they call an “Upfront SREC Credit” of 70% of the cost of the panels. You pay them 30% of the cost (which you then get back from the IRS when you file your taxes), and in exchange they get to keep the SRECs that your panels produce. I assume this is the same for most other installers.

The other way of doing this is to pay the full cost of installing panels (receiving the 30% federal tax credit) but keeping the SRECs for yourself to sell into the GATS market.

Does anyone have experience with the second method (keeping and selling the SRECs yourself)? How easy/difficult is it? And while solar panels will generally fetch a premium when one goes to sell their house, will the “solar premium” be higher if the new buyer can keep and sell the SRECs rather than giving them to the installer?”