Government incentives for solar energy installations and use vary from state to state and are frequently revised and updated making them difficult to decipher and track. Every type of incentive — including rebates, net metering, renewable energy credits, portfolio standards and more — is administered by a federal, state or local government agency or an electric utility. Every individual incentive has a corresponding set of eligibility rules and regulations as well as unique administrative processes and required paperwork.
The single best source for information on renewable energy incentives of all types is the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE). DSIRE provides up-to-date access to information on renewable energy incentives and the regulatory policies of the agencies and organizations that administer them.
Tioga Energy’s SurePath® Solar PPA includes management of all aspects of filing and tracking of solar energy incentives relevant to government, commercial and non-profit customers. Specifically, Tioga Energy’s incentive experts focus on:
State Incentives, such as the California Solar Initiative performance based incentives, which offer payments based on a photovoltaic (PV) solar system’s expected performance over a five-year period.
- State Tax Credits, such as Oregon’s Business Energy Tax Credit, which offers credits for costs directly related to a renewable energy project, including equipment purchases, engineering and design fees, materials, supplies and installation costs.
- Federal Tax Incentives, including the Commercial Investment Tax Credit which offers a tax credit for 30% of solar equipment costs and the Modified Accelerated Cost-Recovery System (MACRS) that allows businesses to recover investment in solar technology through accelerated depreciation schedules.
- Municipal Incentive Programs, such as rebate programs of city-owned utilities.
- Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) Programs, such as New Jersey’s Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC) program, which creates a market for buying and selling SRECs. When solar electricity users send electricity back into the utility grid they also generate SRECs. SRECs represent the renewable attributes of solar power, such as greenhouse gas reductions. Companies buy SRECs from solar electricity customers to meet state requirements for renewable energy use.
