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

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

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

Solar incentives encourage homeowners to switch to renewable energy by offering incentives that lower the financial burden of solar panel installation and use. You might qualify for several kinds of incentives, including discounts, cash back or credit towards your monthly utility bill, depending on your situation. Certain incentives come from your specific utility company, county or municipality, some from the North Carolina government and others from the federal government. Some solar incentives you might qualify for are:

• Net Metering: Net metering is an incentive you can get after your solar panels are up and running. If you have in place a net metering agreement with your Weddington utility company, it will subtract the value of the excess energy your solar system produces from your monthly utility bill. In some places, this credit is dollar-for-dollar, while in others you may receive a refund equivalent to a percentage of the value.
• Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC): SRECs and similar performance-based incentives might be available to you if the solar system on your home produces over a specified (generally small) amount of electricity. This category of incentives is generally handled by the state government. You can sell any SRECs you have to your utility company or other buyers, and the money you receive in return is usually considered part of your taxable income.
• Tax Exemptions: Sales tax exemptions go into effect at the point of sale for your solar system. Property tax exemptions let you ignore the value that your solar panels add when you're calculating the amount of property tax you need to pay on your home.
• Rebates: A solar rebate is a partial refund given after you've purchased your solar system. Rebates may be offered by your local utility company, your state or your county. The cash back that you get from the rebates is normally applied before calculating tax credits.
• Tax Credits: Tax credits are dollar-for-dollar reductions in the amount of income tax that you owe the federal government. (A tax credit is different from a tax deduction.)

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Federal Solar Incentives

When someone says "solar incentives," you likely think of federal incentives first. The solar incentive that you're most familiar with is probably the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which provides a credit on your taxes equal to a specified percentage of the cost of your solar system.

The ITC can be credited towards the value of a solar system installed on your primary or secondary residence in the United States. The solar system must have been installed after January 1, 2006, on a property owned by you for you to claim the credit. The ITC originally paid out 30% of all installation costs (panels, equipment, labor and accessories), although the total amount has fluctuated slightly over the last few years between 26-30%. The amount you qualify for will depend on when your solar system was installed. There is no cap on the amount you can claim.

Your local Weddington solar panel installer can give you more information about the ITC and how it may apply to your situation.

In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act made revisions to the ITC, now dubbed the Clean Energy Credit. The Clean Energy Credit bolsters the current credit, increasing it up to 30% for solar installations undertaken between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2032. After 2032, the percentage will decrease slightly each year until the program expires in 2035. The program expansion also makes it easier to get credit for energy storage systems, beginning in 2023.

More information about the new Inflation Reduction Act can be found here. To fully understand how the new Clean Energy Credit might apply to you, reach out to your local Weddington solar installation company.

State & Local Solar Incentives

There are more than just federal solar incentives; rebates, tax credits and more are often offered at the state and local level. These incentives — which might be handled by the state of North Carolina, or by your county or municipality — might be offered for only a limited time, or on an ongoing basis.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Weddington

You can receive solar incentives from the North Carolina government and the federal government, as well as from your local utility company. The increased availability of solar initiatives in the past 15 years has helped greatly increase nationwide adoption of solar energy. When you're prepared to make the switch to solar energy, reaching out to your local Weddington solar panel installation expert is an excellent place to start.