2023 Solar Incentives Guide for Waldwick, NJ - Tax Credits & Rebates

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

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

Solar incentives mitigate the cost of installing a solar panel system on your home. Financial incentives like these are intended to encourage more people to convert their home partially or fully to renewable energy. You might qualify for several types of incentives, including cash back, discounts 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 New Jersey government and others from the federal government. Some broad categories of solar incentives include:

• Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC): Generally, solar systems that produce more than a specified (generally small) amount of electricity can qualify for SRECs or other similar performance-based incentives. SRECs and similar incentives are typically offered at the state level. SRECs can be sold to your utility company or another buyer, and this is usually considered part of your taxable income.
• Tax Credits: Unlike tax deductions, tax credits reduce, dollar-for-dollar, the amount of income tax that you owe the government.
• Net Metering: Make sure you talk with your Waldwick utility company about signing a net metering agreement. This will allow you to get a credit towards your monthly utility bill for the value of excess energy generated by your solar panels. You may receive either a dollar-for-dollar credit or a percentage of the value.
• Rebates: A solar rebate is a partial refund given after you've purchased 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 tax credits are calculated.
• Tax Exemptions: Tax exemptions can come in two forms. The first is sales tax exemption, which is applied at the time you purchase your solar panels. The second is property tax exemption, which allows you to exclude the value added by your solar system when calculating property tax for your home.

Federal Solar Incentives

Federal incentives are the type of incentives that you are most likely to have heard of. The solar incentive that you may be most familiar with is the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which provides a credit on your taxes equal to a predetermined percentage of the cost of your solar system.

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, labor, equipment and accessories. You can claim this credit for solar panels installed on a primary or secondary residence that you own in the United States. The original claim amount was 30% of the total cost, although the amount you can claim may range between 26-30%. There is no maximum amount you can claim.

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

In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act laid out new provisions for the ITC, now titled the Clean Energy Credit. With the new provisions, solar installation projects begun after January 1, 2022 and finished by December 31, 2032 may be eligible for a 30% tax credit. This credit amount will then see a slight annual decrease until the current Clean Energy Credit expires in 2035. The expansion to the program also makes claiming credit for energy storage systems easier than ever before, starting in 2023.

Click here to learn more about the new Inflation Reduction Act. Your local Waldwick solar panel company can answer any questions you have and explain how the new Clean Energy Credit applies to you.

State & Local Solar Incentives

Some solar incentives may be provided by state and local governments. Like with federal incentives, these can include tax credits, rebates and more. Incentives might be given by your county or municipality, or by the state of New Jersey. Some incentives may be available for only a limited time, while others are ongoing.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Waldwick

There are many kinds of solar incentives: those offered by local utility companies, those offered by the New Jersey government and those offered by the federal government, to name a few. Solar energy use has increased enormously in the last 15 years, partially due to these incentives. Speaking with your local Waldwick solar panel installation company is the best first step towards getting all the incentives you qualify for when you switch to solar energy.