2024 Solar Incentives Guide for Crete, IL - Tax Credits & Rebates

What Solar Tax Credits, Incentives, and Rebates are Available in Crete?

Source: https://www.dsireusa.org/

Solar incentives are intended to encourage people to make the switch to renewable energy by providing incentives meant to lower the financial burden of solar panel installation and use. Various kinds of incentives, including cash back, discounts or credit towards your monthly utility bill, might be available to you. Certain incentives may be provided via the state of Illinois, by your utility company or by county or municipality, while other incentives are federal. Some solar incentives you might qualify for are:

• Net Metering: Make sure you speak to your Crete utility company about signing a net metering contract. This allows you to get a credit towards your utility bill every month for the value of excess energy generated by your solar panels. You might receive either a dollar-for-dollar credit or a percentage of the value.
• Rebates: A rebate is a partial refund given after you've purchased your solar system. These might be offered by your local utility company, your state or your county. The discount that rebates offer is normally applied to the price of solar panels before tax credits are calculated.
• Tax Credits: Tax credits lower, dollar-for-dollar, how much income tax you owe the federal government. These are different from tax deductions.
• Tax Exemptions: Sales tax exemptions are effective at the time of purchase for your solar system. Property tax exemptions allow you to ignore the value that your solar panels add when you're calculating the amount of property tax you need to pay.
• Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC): SRECs and similar performance-based incentives might be available to you if you have a solar system that produces more than a specified (typically small) amount of electricity. This category of incentives is usually handled at the state level. You can sell SRECs to your utility company or other buyers, and the money you make is generally considered part of your taxable income.

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Federal Solar Incentives

Federal solar incentives are probably the first thing that you think of when you think about solar incentives. An incentive many people are likely familiar with is the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC). This is a tax credit for a certain percentage of the cost of your solar system.

The ITC can be applied to solar panels installed after January 1, 2006, on a primary or secondary residence in the United States that you own. The credit initially covered 30% of the total cost – for panels, labor, accessories and equipment – although the percentage may range from 26-30%, depending on when your solar project was undertaken. There is no cap on the claim amount.

Reaching out to your local Crete solar panel installer is the best way to learn more about how the ITC applies to you.

In August 2022, the ITC (now called the Clean Energy Credit) was expanded and extended by the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The new Clean Energy Credit is valid until 2035. You can now receive a 30% credit for solar systems that began installation after January 1, 2022, and are completed by the end of 2032. This new credit will then be decreased by a few percentage points every year until its expiration. Starting in 2023, the expansion to the program will also make it easier to get credit for energy storage systems.

More information about the new Inflation Reduction Act can be found here. The best way to learn more about how the new Clean Energy Credit applies to you is to speak with your local Crete solar panel installation expert directly.

State & Local Solar Incentives

There are often also state solar incentives in addition to those provided by the federal government. Tax credits, rebates and more may be available at a more local level. Some incentives are ongoing, while others might only be available for a limited time. They may be provided by the Illinois government, or by your county or municipality.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Crete

You can qualify for solar incentives from the federal government and the Illinois government, as well as from your local utility company. The increased availability of solar initiatives over the last 15 years has helped increase solar adoption nationwide. Talking to your local Crete solar panel installation expert is a great first step towards making sure you get all the incentives you qualify for when you switch to solar energy.