2025 Solar Incentives Guide for Round Lake Beach, IL - Tax Credits & Rebates

What Solar Tax Credits, Incentives, and Rebates are Available in Round Lake Beach?

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

The term "solar incentives" includes a wide range of financial incentives implemented to make installing and using solar panels more affordable. This is done to encourage people to switch to renewable energy. Different kinds of incentives, including cash back, discounts or monthly utility bill credits, may be available to you. Certain incentives may be provided via the Illinois government, by your utility company or by county or municipality, while others are federal. Types of solar incentives might include:

• Rebates: Solar rebates might be provided by your local utility company, or by your state or county. These rebates are essentially cash back that is applied after your purchase of solar panels and before tax credits are calculated.
• Tax Exemptions: Your solar panels could qualify for both sales tax and property tax exemptions. Sales tax exemptions are applied at the time of purchase. Property tax exemptions allow you to ignore the added value of the solar panels when you are calculating property taxes on your house.
• Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC): In most cases, solar systems that produce over a specific (generally small) amount of electricity will qualify for SRECs or other performance-based incentives. SRECs and the like are typically given at the state level. When you receive an SREC, you can sell it to your utility company or another buyer, and this is usually considered part of your taxable income.
• Tax Credits: Tax credits decrease, dollar-for-dollar, the amount of income tax you owe the federal government. Tax credits are different from tax deductions.
• Net Metering: Net metering becomes relevant once your solar panels are up and running. If you have a net metering agreement in place with your Round Lake Beach utility company, they will subtract the value of the excess energy your solar system produces from your monthly utility bill. In some areas, this is a dollar-for-dollar credit, while in other places you might be refunded a percentage of the value.

Federal Solar Incentives

Federal incentives are the type of incentives that you are most likely to have some knowledge of. One of the incentives that most 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 on your primary or secondary residence in the United States. The solar system has to have been installed after January 1, 2006, on a property you own for you to be eligible for the credit. The ITC originally paid out 30% of all system installation costs (panels, labor, equipment and accessories), although this amount has fluctuated slightly over the last few years between 26-30%. The installation date of your solar system will determine what percentage you are eligible for. There is no cap on the amount you can claim.

Your local Round Lake Beach solar panel installation expert can provide more information about the ITC and how it may apply to your situation.

In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act expanded and extended the ITC, now called the Clean Energy Credit. For solar systems installed between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2032, homeowners can apply for a credit equal to 30% of the total cost. This percentage will decrease annually after 2032 until the Clean Energy Credit ends in 2035. The expansion also makes credits for energy storage systems even easier to claim, starting in 2023.

More information about the new Inflation Reduction Act can be found here. Your local Round Lake Beach solar panel company is the best resource for answering your questions regarding the new Clean Energy Credit and how it will apply to you.

State & Local Solar Incentives

Not all solar incentives are federal; rebates, tax credits and more may be offered at the local or state level. Incentives might be given by the state of Illinois, or by your county or municipality. Certain incentives may be available for only a limited time, while others are ongoing.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Round Lake Beach

There are a number of different solar incentives: those provided by local utility companies, those given by the federal government and those provided by the Illinois government, to name a few. The use of solar energy has grown tremendously in the last 15 years, partially due to these incentives. Reach out to your local solar panel installation expert today to find out more information and to save the most money possible on a solar system for your Round Lake Beach home.