In Lakewood, New Jersey, Dina’s Interiors & Leather (formerly Dina’s Dinettes) recently installed a solar photovoltaic array on the rooftop of the furniture showroom that will pay for itself in less than four years.

The system was installed by Arosa Solar Energy Systems, Inc., also based in Lakewood. Arosa, a newly-formed supplier and installer of solar systems in New Jersey and the tri-state area (New Jersey, New York and Connecticut), bills itself as having 30 years experience in the field via a team of skilled solar professionals. In addition to solar PV, which provides electricity from sunlight, Arosa also offers solar thermal (hot water) systems and solar-powered lighting options to residential and commercial customers.

Dina’s 41.3 kilowatt rooftop solar array, in addition to providing a rapid payoff thanks to New Jersey solar incentives, will also reportedly deliver a “drastic” reduction in the furniture store’s electricity costs, which are higher than some other commercial venues due to the need for spotlighting for the store’s furniture displays.

The actual savings? About 65 percent, say store owners, who don’t look at the new solar equipment as purely a cost-savings measure, but also as an investment since – under New Jersey’s solar incentives – the system earns solar renewable energy credits, or SRECs, that can be sold to generate additional revenue.

New Jersey SRECs are valued based on each 1,000 kilowatt hours of solar electricity produced. For comparison purposes, a 5-kilowatt solar system earns roughly 6 SRECs per year.

The credits are registered to the owner-of-record once the solar PV system is verified (i.e., correct installation, correct grid-tie method, correct nameplate rating, etc.), and can be sold to a broker or posted directly on New Jersey’s solar website for sale to utilities like Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G) or Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L), who are under a state mandate (Renewable Portfolio Standard, or RPS) that requires them to generate at least 22.5 percent of their energy from renewables like solar, wind, biomass and landfill gas by 2020-2021 – with at least 5,316 gigawatt-hours of that (or 17.880 percent) from solar technologies by 2025-2026.

Once the solar array is paid for, the SRECs will become a source of pure profit for Dina’s. In 2009, these credits typically sold for as much as $650 each. In January of 2010, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities reported an average SREC value of $405.15.

Arosa also benefits from the installation, acquiring substantial rebates both from the state and federal government which help defray high initial installation costs. These include a 30-percent tax credit (or grant, for firms lacking a tax appetite) under the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and property tax and sales tax exemptions through the state. PSE&G also offers a newly re-funded solar loan program, which added $143 million this year to support another 51 megawatts of capacity.