2025 Solar Incentives Guide for Winston-Salem, NC - Tax Credits & Rebates

What Solar Tax Credits, Incentives, and Rebates are Available in Winston-Salem?

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

Solar incentives are meant to help mitigate the cost of installing solar panels on your home. These financial incentives are in place to encourage more Americans to make the switch to renewable energy. You may qualify for various kinds of incentives, including discounts, cash back or monthly utility bill credits, 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. You might qualify for any of the following types of solar incentives:

• Rebates: A solar rebate is a partial refund after the purchase of your solar panels. These may be offered by your local utility company, your state or your county. The rebates are usually applied before tax credits are calculated.
• Tax Exemptions: Your solar panel system may qualify for both sales tax and property tax exemptions. Sales tax exemptions are effective at the time of purchase. Property tax exemptions allow you to exclude the value added by your solar panels when calculating property taxes on your house.
• Tax Credits: Tax credits are dollar-for-dollar reductions that lower the amount of income tax you owe the federal government. (This is different from a tax deduction.)
• Net Metering: Net metering is an incentive you can get once your solar panels are up and running. If you have a net metering agreement with your Winston-Salem utility company, it will subtract the value of the excess energy produced by your solar system from your monthly utility bill. In some areas, this is a dollar-for-dollar credit, while in other places you may get refunded a percentage of the value.
• Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC): SRECs can be sold to your utility company (or other buyers) for cash that normally counts as part of your taxable income. In most cases, you must meet a certain (small) threshold of energy production before your solar system can earn SRECs or other performance-based incentives. SRECs and similar incentives are normally handled at the state level.

Federal Solar Incentives

Federal incentives are the kind of incentives that you are most likely to have some knowledge of. A federal incentive many people are probably familiar with is the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC). This is a tax credit for a given 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 owned by you for you to claim the credit. Initially, the ITC applied to 30% of all system costs (panels, labor, accessories and equipment), although the total amount has fluctuated over time 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.

Have questions about how the ITC applies to your specific situation? Reach out to your local Winston-Salem solar panel installation expert to get more information.

The ITC has been renewed and expanded following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022. It's also now called the Clean Energy Credit. Homeowners are now eligible for a credit of 30% of the total costs of solar system installation for projects that began after January 1, 2022, and will be finished by the end of 2032. The percentage will then decrease annually until the Clean Energy Credit ends in 2035. The program expansion also makes credits for energy storage systems even easier to claim, starting in 2023.

Click here to learn more about the new Inflation Reduction Act. The best way to learn more about how the new Clean Energy Credit will apply to you is to reach out to your local Winston-Salem solar panel installation expert with your questions.

State & Local Solar Incentives

Rebates, tax credits and more might be claimed at multiple levels. In addition to federal solar incentives, there are often state and local ones as well. The incentives — which might be given by the state of North Carolina, or by your county or municipality — could be offered on an ongoing basis, or for only a limited time.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Winston-Salem

You can apply for and receive solar incentives from the North Carolina government and the federal government, as well as from your local utility company. Growing availability of solar initiatives in the past 15 years has helped greatly increase nationwide adoption of solar energy. Your local Winston-Salem solar panel installer can help you learn more about which incentives you should apply for, and get you on track to switch to renewable energy today.