Government to Pay for Half of Your Home Solar Installation?

Proposed rebate bill sweetens the deal for solar homeowners

Right now, the federal government will pay for up to 30 percent of up-front costs for your solar installation in the form of tax credits. However, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Steve Cohn (D-TN) want to raise that total to 50 percent through a bill they have proposed. Modeled after California’s Million Solar Roofs initiative, the “10 Million Solar Roofs and 10 Million Gallons of Solar Water-Heating Act” aims to add 10 million new solar arrays and 200,000 new solar water heating systems to the national energy mix.

In terms of photovoltaic capacity, the ultimate goal is to install some 30,000 megawatts of solar power. That ambitious goal is double that of similar initiatives that have recently come out of China and India. Such rapid advancement would create thousands of domestic jobs in manufacturing and system installation, an effect not lost on the bill’s authors.

Incentive rates for solar power systems would start at $1.75 per watt and slowly decline over time, ending at 50 cents in 2018 and 2019. Rebates under the bill would be added to existing federal rebates, although total payments cannot exceed 50 percent of project costs. However, add this potential federal funding to incentives existing in several states, and the cost of home solar power systems gets even more affordable. In some states, homeowners can already cut those costs in half, and a bill like this could lead to savings of up to 75 percent.

Photo Credit: Credit Repair News

Posted on February 15th in Solar Funding by Dan.