2025 Solar Incentives Guide for Anacortes, WA - Tax Credits & Rebates

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

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

Solar incentives are meant to help mitigate the cost of installing a solar panel system on your home. These financial incentives are intended to encourage more homeowners to make the switch to renewable energy. These incentives may include cash back, upfront discounts or monthly credits towards your utility bill. Some incentives are handled by the federal government, some by the state of Washington and some by your utility company, county or municipality. Some broad categories of solar incentives include:

• Tax Exemptions: These might come in the form of property tax exemptions, which let you exclude the value added by your solar panels when calculating the taxes you pay on your house. You may also qualify for an exemption on sales tax at the time of purchase.
• Net Metering: You can sign a net metering agreement with your Anacortes utility company that will apply to all or a percentage of the excess electricity your solar panels generate. Your utility company will then subtract this value from your monthly utility bill.
• Rebates: Solar rebates might be provided by your local utility company, or by your state or county. These rebates work as partial refunds that are applied after you pay for a solar system and before tax credits are calculated.
• Tax Credits: Unlike tax deductions, tax credits reduce, dollar-for-dollar, the amount of income tax that you owe the government.

Federal Solar Incentives

Federal incentives are the type of incentives that you are most likely to have some knowledge of. It's likely that you've heard of the Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit, or ITC. This incentive is a tax credit that reduces your taxes by a certain percentage of the money you spend on your solar system.

The ITC can be applied to solar systems installed after January 1, 2006, and allows you to deduct from your taxes a percentage of the total cost of solar panels, labor, accessories and equipment. You can claim this credit for a solar panel system installed on a primary or secondary residence in the United States that you own. The original claim amount was 30% of the total cost, although certain projects may qualify for only 26%, depending on the details. There is no maximum claim amount.

To understand exactly how much money the ITC could save you, talk to your local Anacortes solar panel installation expert.

In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act expanded and extended the ITC, now titled the Clean Energy Credit. Under the new program, solar installation projects started after January 1, 2022, and completed by the end of 2032, can qualify for a 30% tax credit. This credit amount will then decrease slightly each year until the end of the current Clean Energy Credit in 2035. The expansion 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 Anacortes solar panel company is the best resource for answering your questions regarding the new Clean Energy Credit and how it applies to you.

State & Local Solar Incentives

There are often also state solar incentives in addition to those provided by the federal government. Rebates, tax credits and more might be available at a more local level. Some incentives are ongoing, while others might only be available for a limited time. Incentives may be offered by your county or municipality, or by the Washington government.

Next Steps for Installing Solar in Anacortes

You can qualify for solar incentives from the federal government and the Washington government, as well as from your local utility company. Growing availability of solar initiatives in the past 15 years has helped increase solar adoption nationwide. We suggest talking to your local Anacortes solar installation expert for more information about these incentives and to make sure that you're getting the most money possible for your solar system.