2024 Solar Incentives Guide for Greensboro, NC - Tax Credits & Rebates

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

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

Solar incentives are designed to mitigate the cost of installing solar panels on your home. These financial incentives are designed to encourage more people to make the switch to renewable energy. These incentives might include cash back, upfront discounts or monthly credits towards your utility bill. Some incentives are provided by the federal government, some by the North Carolina government and some by your utility company, county or municipality. Categories of solar incentives include:

• Rebates: A rebate is a partial refund after the purchase of your solar panels. These might be offered by your local utility company, your county or your state. The discount that rebates offer is normally applied to the price of solar panels before calculating tax credits.
• Net Metering: Net metering factors in once your solar panels are up and running. If you've signed a net metering agreement with your Greensboro utility company, the company 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 areas you might receive a refund equivalent to a percentage of the value.
• Tax Credits: Different from tax deductions, tax credits are dollar-for-dollar reductions in the amount of income tax that you owe the government.
• Tax Exemptions: Tax exemptions may come in two forms. First, there is sales tax exemption, applied when you purchase solar panels. The second is property tax exemption, which allows you to ignore the value added by your solar system when calculating property tax for your house.
• Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC): SRECs and other similar performance-based incentives are typically handled by your state government. Once your solar panel system meets a certain threshold (typically a small amount of energy production), you can receive SRECs that can be sold to your utility company or other buyers. The money you receive is generally considered part of your taxable income.

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Federal Solar Incentives

Federal incentives are the type of incentives that you are most likely to have some knowledge of. An incentive that most people are probably familiar with is the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC). The ITC is a tax credit for a predetermined percentage of your solar system's cost.

The ITC applies towards solar systems installed after January 1, 2006, and under this program you can deduct from your taxes a percentage of the total cost of solar panels, accessories, labor and equipment. This credit can apply towards a solar panel system installed on a primary or secondary residence that you own in the United States. Originally, you could claim 30% of the total cost, although the amount you can claim may range between 26-30%. There is no maximum claim amount.

To understand exactly how much the ITC could save you, get in touch with your local Greensboro solar panel installation expert.

In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act made revisions to the ITC, now titled the Clean Energy Credit. The new Clean Energy Credit is valid until 2035. American homeowners can now receive a 30% credit for solar systems that began installation after January 1, 2022, and are completed by the end of 2032. The total credit will then see a slight annual decrease until the date of expiration. Starting in 2023, the program expansion will also make credits for energy storage systems even easier to claim.

More information about the new Inflation Reduction Act can be found here. Your local Greensboro solar panel installation expert is the best person to answer your questions about the new Clean Energy Credit and how it applies to you.

State & Local Solar Incentives

In addition to those provided at the federal level, there are often also state solar incentives. Rebates, tax credits and more might be available at a more local level. These incentives — which might be given by the state of North Carolina, or by your county or municipality — may be offered for only a limited time, or on an ongoing basis.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Greensboro

There are a number of different solar incentives: those given by local utility companies, those provided by the federal government and those given by the North Carolina government, to name a few. Solar energy use has grown enormously in the last 15 years, thanks to these incentives. Reaching out to your local Greensboro solar panel installation company is an excellent first step towards making sure you get all the incentives you qualify for when you switch to solar energy.