Frequently asked questions.

SolarCoin is a global rewards program that pays solar panel owners for generating clean energy. Every kilowatt-hour your panels produce earns you kSLR tokens that have real monetary value.

The program has operated since December 2013 and serves over 30,000 verified solar installations across 170 countries.

SolarCoin was founded in 2013 by the SolarCoin Foundation, a nonprofit organization. The goal is to accelerate solar energy adoption by providing additional financial incentives to solar panel owners. The program operates independently from governments, utilities, and solar installers.

There is no catch. SolarCoin is 100% free to claim. No fees, no credit-card registration, no hidden costs. The program is funded by the network itself through a predetermined supply of tokens allocated to reward solar energy production. You are claiming value that your panels have already generated. Read the full economic model in our Solarity economic research paper.

Anyone who owns solar panels that generate electricity can claim SolarCoin. This includes:

• Residential homeowners with rooftop solar
• Commercial building owners
• Solar farm operators
• Community solar participants
• Anyone who purchased a home with existing solar panels

Your system must be grid-connected or have verifiable production data. Individuals and entities in OFAC-sanctioned countries, and other jurisdictions restricted under the laws and regulations of the Government of Singapore, are not eligible to participate.

SolarCoin launched in 2013. You can claim rewards retroactively for up to 5 years before your registration date, based on when your solar system was installed. If you installed panels in 2018 and register today in 2025, you’ll receive backlog rewards for the past 5 years of production.

We publish project updates, technical announcements and research on the official SolarCoin publication on Medium: medium.com/solarcoin. Recent posts cover the move of kSLR to Base — see kSLR on Base: bringing SolarCoin to Ethereum’s fastest Layer 2.

You can also follow SolarCoin on X/Twitter, Telegram and GitLab — those links are in the footer at the bottom of every page.

You do not need to set up a crypto wallet to claim. All you need is a computer or phone with a web browser and a free account at claim.solarcoin.org — your rewards are held in a managed account until you want them. A personal wallet (like MetaMask) is optional, for people who prefer to hold their own tokens. The process is designed for beginners and usually takes about 15–20 minutes.

Earnings depend on your system size and installation date:

• Small residential (3–5 kW): kSLR 2,700–4,500 backlog + kSLR 270–450 monthly
• Average residential (5–10 kW): kSLR 4,500–9,000 backlog + kSLR 450–900 monthly
• Large residential (10–15 kW): kSLR 9,000–13,500 backlog + kSLR 900–1,350 monthly
• Commercial systems earn proportionally more based on size

These estimates assume average sun exposure and system efficiency. Your actual rewards depend on your specific location and production.

Timeline breakdown:

• Registration: 5–10 minutes
• Verification and backlog processing: 2–4 weeks
• Monthly rewards: Automatic, processed on the 1st of each month

Once verified, you don’t need to submit claims or take any action. Rewards are automatic.

kSLR stands for kiloSolarCoin — a digital token that rewards solar electricity production. You earn 1 kSLR for every kilowatt-hour (kWh) your solar panels generate. The “kilo” prefix works the same way as kilometers vs meters: 1 kSLR equals what 1,000 of the original SolarCoin (SLR) tokens used to equal, so balances are easier to read. kSLR has real market value and is tradable on cryptocurrency exchanges.

Most rewards are calculated using an industry-standard estimation algorithm based on your system’s nameplate capacity — this equates to approximately 1,314 kWh per kW of nameplate capacity per year (kW/YR) of production.

• With monitoring system: Where available, direct measurement from your inverter or monitoring platform may be used to refine the estimate.
• Without monitoring: The industry-standard estimation formula above is applied using your system size, location, panel orientation, and historical weather data.

Both methods are accepted. Estimated calculations are typically within 5–10% of actual production.

Yes! Your kSLR tokens are yours to keep, trade, or sell whenever you want. Think of kSLR like foreign currency — you can hold it, exchange it, or convert it to your local currency. There’s no lock-up period, no minimum holding time, and no penalties for selling.

Cryptocurrency exchanges: kSLR trading on the Base network is just getting started. Decentralized exchange listings for kSLR are expected to emerge over time — once live, you’ll be able to trade kSLR for USD, EUR, or other crypto directly. New listings will be announced on our Trading & Exchanges page as they go live.

Your rewards accumulate automatically — every megawatt-hour (MWh) your panels produce = 1,000 kSLR tokens earned. This happens automatically based on your system size and location, no action required from you.

Typical accumulation for an 8 kW home system:

• Daily production (sunny day): ~35 kWh → ~35 kSLR
• Monthly accumulation: ~1,050 kSLR
• Annual rewards: ~13,000 kSLR
• 5-year backlog: ~65,000 kSLR

A network development fee applies only to installations with a nameplate capacity in excess of 20 kW — smaller systems, like the 8 kW example above, keep 100% of their rewards.

Your accumulated rewards stay with you — but future rewards go to the new owner. Make sure to claim your rewards before closing. Once the property transfers, you can’t claim historical rewards anymore.

They’re completely separate concepts, and the key difference comes down to legal claims.

Environmental credits (like RECs or SRECs — Renewable Energy Certificates and their solar variant) represent a legal claim to the environmental attributes of a unit of renewable energy. That claim can be transferred, sold, and ultimately retired — typically by a corporate entity that wants to make a verifiable renewable energy or carbon claim.

SolarCoin rewards (kSLR) carry no such legal claim. kSLR is simply a digital token that reflects verified solar production — it is not a traditional, assignable environmental credit, and corporate entities cannot retire it against their own environmental claims.

Because they represent different things, having environmental credits doesn’t disqualify you from earning SolarCoin rewards — they can exist side by side.

We understand the skepticism — but it’s real. SolarCoin has been operating continuously since 2013, with 30,847+ verified solar owners already collecting rewards and US$2.4 million+ already distributed. The program is registered in 170+ countries and has never asked for payment from participants.

You do not need a wallet to start claiming. New claimants can use the managed (omnibus) option and set up a wallet later. A wallet is a digital account that stores your kSLR tokens, similar to how a bank account stores money — it gives you a wallet address (like an account number) that only you control. Choose one when you want full, self-custodial control over your tokens.

Three main options:

• Omnibus account (recommended for beginners): A placeholder that tracks the rewards you’ve earned until you’re ready to claim them — SolarCoin never holds your tokens. Simplest option to start with, no technical knowledge needed.
• Personal wallet: Software you control on your computer or phone. You manage the private keys.
• Exchange wallet: Account on a cryptocurrency exchange. Convenient for trading but less secure for long-term storage.

An omnibus account is not a wallet that holds real kSLR on your behalf — it’s a placeholder that lets you request a redemption of your SolarCoin in the future. On request, and once you present a wallet address, the real kSLR is minted into existence and sent immediately to you. The Solar Loyalty Foundation never holds your SolarCoin tokens. It works a bit like air miles: your balance is tracked for you, but nothing is actually issued until you claim it.

Recommended personal wallets for kSLR:

• MetaMask — the most well-known and secure wallet
• Any Ethereum-compatible wallet

Warning: Always confirm the security, links, and origin of any Ethereum-compatible wallet before downloading or entering your private keys.

No — if you can use email and online banking, you already have all the skills you need. We’ve specifically designed the system so you never need to understand blockchain, cryptocurrency, or any technical concepts. The actual process is simpler than setting up online banking.

Absolutely zero costs for residential solar owners. Free to join, free to earn, free to keep. You will never pay a single penny to SolarCoin for discovering, collecting, or keeping your rewards. No signup fees, no monthly charges, no transaction fees for receiving rewards.

The only possible cost (not from us): a small network fee when selling or trading on the Base network, typically under US$0.20 (you can check current network fees on BaseScan, the Base chain explorer). Any tax obligations associated with receiving, buying, or selling SolarCoin, and any related regulatory filings, are solely the responsibility of the holder.

SolarCoin tokens exist on two blockchain networks:

• kSLR on Base — the primary network going forward. Base is an Ethereum Layer 2 built by Coinbase, offering low fees, fast transactions, and broad wallet support. All new solar rewards are issued as kSLR on Base. The live kSLR contract address is 0x7Aa7CB583084DeFc43cc0c2e95213ce364a8df9CCopy.
• SLR on Energy Web Chain — the traditional SolarCoin network. Existing SLR holders can view balances on the Energy Web Explorer and migrate to kSLR on Base through our migration portal.

Both networks are accessible with any Ethereum-compatible wallet such as MetaMask.

Block explorers let you verify your token balance and view transaction history. Use the explorer for the network your tokens are on:

• kSLR on Base: BaseScan — paste your wallet address to view your kSLR balance and transactions on the Base network.
• SLR on Energy Web Chain: Energy Web Explorer — paste your wallet address to view your legacy SLR balance and transaction history.

If you’ve migrated from SLR to kSLR, your new tokens will only appear on BaseScan, not the Energy Web Explorer.

SLR is the original SolarCoin token on Energy Web Chain. kSLR (kilo-SolarCoin) is the new token on the Base network, where 1 SLR = 1,000 kSLR. The redenomination makes reward amounts feel more tangible — instead of earning 0.005 SLR, you earn 5 kSLR.

Going forward, kSLR on Base is the primary token. Existing SLR holders are encouraged to migrate their tokens to kSLR. Legacy SLR remains viewable and tradable on Energy Web Chain but will not receive new rewards or active development support.

To add Base to MetaMask: Open MetaMask, click the network selector at the top, then “Add network.” Base may already appear in the popular networks list — just click “Add.” If not, enter manually: Network Name: Base, RPC URL: https://mainnet.base.org, Chain ID: 8453, Currency Symbol: ETH, Block Explorer: https://basescan.org.

To add Energy Web Chain: Use the same process with: Network Name: Energy Web Chain, RPC URL: https://rpc.energyweb.org, Chain ID: 246, Currency Symbol: EWT, Block Explorer: https://explorer.energyweb.org.

See our wallet setup guide for step-by-step instructions.

Once Base is added, import the kSLR token: switch to the Base network in MetaMask, open the Tokens tab and click “Import tokens.” If you don’t see this option, click the three-dot menu, choose “Show hidden tokens,” then “Import tokens.” Paste the kSLR contract address 0x7Aa7CB583084DeFc43cc0c2e95213ce364a8df9C — the symbol (kSLR) and decimals will auto-fill. Click Import, and your kSLR balance will appear on the Base network.

The official SolarCoin (kSLR) token contract on the Base network is 0x7Aa7CB583084DeFc43cc0c2e95213ce364a8df9CCopy. Always verify this address before importing the token — never trust a contract address sent to you by a stranger.

After switching MetaMask to the Base network, open Manage tokens and add the official SolarCoin token using the contract address 0x7Aa7CB583084DeFc43cc0c2e95213ce364a8df9C. MetaMask may display it as SolarCoin on Base.

You can update your email address yourself, anytime, from your account in the Claims Portal. Simply log in, open your profile settings, and enter your new email address — no need to contact support.

If you’re unable to access your account, submit a help ticket with your Claim ID and we’ll help you update it.

Under GDPR and similar data protection regulations, you have the right to request deletion of your personal data. To proceed:

• Reply to any grant notification email, or submit a help ticket
• Explicitly state that you wish to have your data deleted
• Include your Claim ID for identification

We will process your request within 30 days, as required by GDPR. Please note that this action is irreversible — any unclaimed SolarCoin rewards will be forfeited once your account data is deleted.

If you’ve sold the property with the solar installation, log in to your account in the Claims Portal as soon as possible and delete or suspend your participation for that installation:

• Any rewards already granted remain yours
• Suspending or deleting your participation stops future grants being sent to you for that system
• Future grants will go to the new registered owner once they register the system

Make sure to claim any outstanding rewards before the property transfer closes, as you won’t be able to claim historical rewards afterwards.

SolarCoin cannot recover lost wallets, passwords, private keys, seed phrases, or tokens already sent to a lost wallet — this is true whether you use a personal wallet or an omnibus (placeholder) account, and no one else can recover them for you either.

If you lose access to your wallet, set up a new wallet (for example, MetaMask) and update your new wallet address in your account on the Claims Portal (rewards portal). Future grants will then be sent to your new wallet. Tokens already sent to the lost wallet cannot be recovered by us or anyone else.

If you’re missing email notifications about your SolarCoin grants:

• Check your spam or junk folder — add SolarCoin emails to your safe senders list
• Verify that your email address is correct at claim.solarcoin.org
• Check your grant history in the claims portal — grants are issued regardless of whether the email is received

Not receiving emails does not affect your rewards. Your kSLR tokens are still being granted to your wallet as normal. The emails are notifications only.

SolarCoin offers a 5-year lookback for retroactive rewards. To claim:

• Register at claim.solarcoin.org
• Provide historical production data from your monitoring system, utility bills, or monitoring reports
• Upload supporting documentation (installation certificate, interconnection agreement, or utility bills showing solar production)

Our team will verify your submission and approve the backlog. You’ll receive retroactive rewards for up to 5 years of past production, calculated based on the documentation you provide.

Yes. Your public wallet address starts with 0x and is safe to share with SolarCoin so rewards can be sent to you.

No. SolarCoin will only ever ask for your public 0x address. Anyone asking for your 12-word Secret Recovery Phrase is a scam — never share it or your MetaMask password with anyone.

No migration needed — there’s nothing to move. Your recorded SLR balance from the May 15, 2026 snapshot is simply waiting for you to claim as kSLR. Visit the Claims Portal, connect a wallet, and your kSLR will be sent directly to you at a 1:1000 ratio (1 SLR = 1,000 kSLR). There’s no separate token to move and no old balance to transfer — you’re simply claiming kSLR tokens that are new to you.

On May 15, 2026, a snapshot of the ERC-20 SLR token was taken on both Energy Web Chain and Ethereum mainnet. Every SLR account balance at that moment was included in a Merkle tree — a tamper-proof cryptographic list — recording exactly what each address held.

Those balances are now available to claim as kSLR at a 1:1000 ratio (1 SLR = 1,000 kSLR) through the Claims Portal — connect the wallet that held your SLR and follow the instructions to claim your kSLR on Base.

There is no guarantee of value or price for kSLR, or for SLR before it. Technically speaking, the token conversion ratio is fixed — you’ll receive 1,000 kSLR for every 1 SLR recorded at the snapshot — but that is a conversion of units, not a promise about market value. kSLR is not backed by any guaranteed price, and its value, like any digital asset, can rise, fall, or fluctuate based on market conditions.

Good news — there’s no tight deadline! Your tokens won’t disappear, but you won’t be able to trade or access them until you complete the migration.

We’re upgrading to a better technology platform (Base L2) that offers: lower fees, faster transaction speeds, better compatibility with more crypto wallets and apps, and improved scalability to handle many more users as SolarCoin grows.

We’re making your rewards feel as substantial as they truly are. When SolarCoin started in 2013, 1 SLR per megawatt-hour felt underwhelming — people ignored rewards worth hundreds of dollars because the numbers seemed too small.

So we’re multiplying everything by 1,000. Your 1 SLR becomes 1,000 kSLR — like converting kilometers to meters: the same distance, just expressed in smaller units. This makes everyday balances feel intuitive.

Rather than releasing all migrated tokens at once, the SLR-to-kSLR conversion uses a phased approach over 5 years. This is designed to protect the ecosystem:

• Snapshot: A snapshot of all SLR holders on both Energy Web Chain and Ethereum mainnet establishes your balance at a fixed point in time
• Merkle verification: Your balance is cryptographically verified — you claim at your own pace using a simple portal

This approach protects existing participants.

Your original SLR tokens will continue to exist on Energy Web Chain and remain tradable — they won’t be destroyed. However, they will be considered legacy tokens:

• They will not be part of the new kSLR rewards programme
• Official support and development will gradually shift to the Base L2 network
• Their market value will be determined by whatever utility and demand remains on the legacy chain

We strongly recommend migrating to kSLR to stay part of the active ecosystem and continue receiving support.

You have up to one year from the May 15, 2026 snapshot to visit the Claims Portal and claim your kSLR — your wallet doesn’t need to stay active in the meantime. Any existing registered solar facility will automatically have its ongoing rewards sent as kSLR using the account already associated with that facility.

No. If you’re joining SolarCoin after the migration snapshot, you’ll receive kSLR tokens directly on the Base L2 network at a rate of 1 kSLR per kWh produced. Migration is only for existing SLR holders who had tokens before the transition.

Sign in at claim.solarcoin.org, open Migrate SLR, click Connect Wallet, and approve the connection in MetaMask. The portal reads your wallet address directly from MetaMask, so you don’t need to type it manually.

If your wallet is connected correctly, the two most common reasons are that the monthly distribution hasn’t happened yet, or that the kSLR token hasn’t been imported into MetaMask. Claims are gathered and rewards are sent on a monthly cycle, so tokens may not appear immediately after you connect.

Solarity: A Production-Backed Digital Currency for a Solar-Powered Planet (v2.2) is the foundational economic research paper behind SolarCoin’s design. It sets out the token model, the 1 kSLR per kWh reward mechanism, the supply schedule, and the macroeconomic case for linking a digital currency to verified solar electricity production.

• Read the paper (PDF): Solarity_SSRN_v2.2.pdf
• Topics covered: production-backed issuance, deflationary supply dynamics, network effects in energy tokens, and the economic rationale for the Base-network transition.
• Who it’s for: researchers, policy-makers, investors, and anyone evaluating the economic mechanics of SolarCoin.

The paper is also available on SSRN. For questions or to cite the work, contact the SolarCoin Foundation.

Multiple peer-reviewed studies have examined cryptocurrency incentive mechanisms for renewable energy. Key research areas include:

• Tokenized carbon markets — Papers from the Journal of Environmental Economics examine how blockchain tokens can create more efficient and transparent carbon offset markets compared to traditional certificate trading.
• Prosumer incentive design — Research from energy economics journals shows that tangible, immediate digital rewards (like crypto tokens) increase solar adoption rates by 12–18% compared to delayed rebate programmes.
• Network effects in energy tokens — Metcalfe’s Law applied to energy networks suggests that the value of solar reward tokens grows quadratically with participant count, creating a positive adoption feedback loop.

The SolarCoin Foundation collaborates with universities and energy research institutes to publish findings on incentive-driven solar deployment.

Unlike speculative tokens, kSLR issuance is restricted to verified solar energy production — new tokens are only minted when measured, verified electricity generation is submitted. This ties supply directly to real-world clean energy output, rather than to speculative demand.

Key economic distinction:

• Production-restricted issuance — New tokens are only minted when verified solar energy production is submitted, linking supply directly to real-world clean energy output.

Yes. Several studies have analysed SolarCoin’s role in accelerating solar deployment:

• “Blockchain Incentives for Renewable Energy” (2019) — Examines how cryptocurrency rewards lower the effective payback period for residential solar by 6–18 months across different markets.
• “Tokenizing Solar: An Economic Analysis” (2020) — Models the long-term economic sustainability of production-backed energy tokens and compares them to government subsidy programmes.
• “Decentralized Incentives for Distributed Generation” (2021) — Analyses how peer-to-peer reward systems like SolarCoin can complement feed-in tariffs in emerging markets where government subsidies are limited.

Research papers and white papers are available on the SolarCoin website and through academic databases like SSRN and Google Scholar.

SolarCoin (including kSLR) is a digital token created to reward and incentivize solar electricity production. It is not, and is not intended to be, legal tender, a bank deposit, or a form of regulated investment, and it may not be recognized as money or as a financial instrument in your jurisdiction.

The regulatory treatment of digital tokens varies significantly between countries and may change over time. Any references on this website to “utility,” “reward,” “incentive,” or similar concepts are descriptive of the project’s intended use case only. They should not be interpreted as a statement about the legal classification of SolarCoin or kSLR under any jurisdiction’s laws.

If you are unsure whether your use of SolarCoin is permitted under the laws that apply to you, you should seek independent legal advice before participating. For full details, see our legal disclaimers.

kSLR tokens on the Base L2 network benefit from several layers of technical protection:

• Ethereum settlement — Base L2 settles transactions on Ethereum mainnet, inheriting the security properties of a major proof-of-stake blockchain.
• Wallet-level security — Your tokens are protected by your private keys. Using a hardware wallet adds physical security against remote access.

No security measure is absolute. You are responsible for safeguarding your own private keys and wallet credentials. SolarCoin cannot recover lost or stolen tokens.

The tax consequences of receiving, holding, or disposing of SolarCoin can differ widely depending on your personal circumstances and the laws of your country or region.

In some jurisdictions, digital tokens received as rewards for activity (such as solar electricity generation) may be treated as taxable income when received, and gains or losses on later disposal may also be taxable.

The SolarCoin project does not provide tax advice and does not make any representation about how any tax authority will treat SolarCoin or kSLR.

You are solely responsible for understanding and complying with your own tax reporting and payment obligations, and you should consult a qualified tax adviser for guidance.

SolarCoin provides transaction history through your dashboard to help with record keeping.

SolarCoin uses a multi-layer verification process to help ensure that rewards correspond to genuine solar energy production:

• Monitoring integration — Claims are checked against data from solar monitoring platforms (SolarEdge, Enphase, SMA, etc.) that report production directly from inverter hardware.
• Satellite cross-reference — For larger installations, production claims are cross-referenced with satellite irradiance data and expected output models for the location.
• Identity verification — Solar system ownership is verified through utility bills, installation certificates, or partner installer confirmation.
• Anomaly detection — Automated systems flag statistically unusual production claims for manual review before rewards are issued.

The SolarCoin project incorporates several transparency and governance mechanisms:

• Open-source code — All smart-contract code (the self-executing programs that run on the blockchain) is publicly available on GitHub, allowing anyone to review the rules governing token issuance and transfer.
• No lock-in — Your tokens are transferable. There are no holding periods or withdrawal restrictions imposed by SolarCoin.
• Dispute process — The SolarCoin Foundation provides a process for claim verification enquiries.

These mechanisms are intended to promote transparency but do not constitute a guarantee of any particular outcome. No guarantee is given regarding the future availability, functionality, value, or legal status of SolarCoin or kSLR. For complete terms, see our legal disclaimers.

The migration from SLR to kSLR uses a merkle-tree-based claim system with multiple technical safeguards:

• Cryptographic verification — Each holder’s balance is included in a merkle tree, providing mathematical proof of eligibility without exposing other users’ data.
• Rate limiting — Claim functions are rate-limited to help prevent exploitation or denial-of-service attacks on the contract.
• Multi-signature governance — Critical contract operations require multiple signatories.
• Institutional-grade custodians — Contract administration keys and treasury operations are safeguarded using institutional-grade custody solutions for enhanced security.
• Event logging — All claims and distributions are logged on-chain for transparency.
• Open-source code — The migration contract code is publicly available for review.