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

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

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

Solar incentives help mitigate the cost of installing solar panels on your home. This category of financial incentives is in place to encourage more homeowners to switch to renewable energy. Different kinds of incentives, including cash back, discounts or credit towards your monthly utility bill, may 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: Be sure to talk with your Thornton utility company about signing a net metering contract. This will allow you to get a credit towards your utility bill every month for the value of excess energy your solar panels generate. You might receive either a dollar-for-dollar credit or a percentage of the value.
• 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 (usually small) amount of electricity. Performance-based incentives are typically handled by the state government. You can sell your SRECs to your utility company or other buyers, and the money you receive in return is normally considered part of your taxable income.
• Rebates: Solar rebates may be provided by your local utility company, or by your county or state. These rebates are essentially partial refunds that are applied after your purchase of solar panels and before tax credits are calculated.
• Tax Exemptions: These could come in the form of property tax exemptions, which let you ignore the value of your solar system when calculating the taxes you pay on your house. They may also include exemptions on sales tax at the time of purchase.
• Tax Credits: Different from tax deductions, tax credits reduce, dollar-for-dollar, the amount of income tax that you owe the government.

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Federal Solar Incentives

When thinking about solar incentives, federal incentives might be the first thing that comes to mind. The solar incentive that you may be most familiar with is the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which gives you a credit on your taxes equal to a certain percentage of your solar system's cost.

The ITC initially applied to 30% of the total cost of installing a solar system, and has fluctuated slightly over the last few years between 26-30%. The percentage you qualify for will depend on when your solar system was installed. The total installation cost includes the panels themselves as well as the cost of equipment, accessories and labor. There is no maximum amount you can claim. The ITC applies to solar systems installed after January 1, 2006, on your primary or secondary residence. The residence must be owned by you and in the United States.

Wondering how the ITC applies to your specific situation? Get in touch with your local Thornton solar panel installation expert to get more information.

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed in August 2022, made some changes to the ITC (as well as retitling it the Clean Energy Credit). The new Clean Energy Credit now runs until 2035. Homeowners are now eligible for a 30% credit for solar systems installed between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2032. This new credit will then decrease annually until the date of expiration. The expansion to the program 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 Thornton solar panel installer can answer any questions you have and explain how the new Clean Energy Credit will apply to you.

State & Local Solar Incentives

Some solar incentives are often also provided by state and local governments. Like with federal incentives, these could include tax credits, rebates and more. Certain incentives are ongoing, while others might only be available for a limited time. Solar incentives might be given by the Illinois government, or by your county or municipality.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Thornton

There are many types of solar incentives: those offered by local utility companies, those given by the Illinois government and those offered by the federal government, to name a few. The use of solar energy has increased enormously in the last 15 years, partially thanks to these incentives. We suggest talking to your local Thornton solar installer to learn more about these incentives and to be sure that you're getting the most money possible for your solar system.