The San Francisco Bay Area – Solar Rebates

Federal Tax Credit for Solar

There is a 30% Investment Tax Credit for solar which has been beefed up in 2009 and doesn’t have a cap. This is a tax credit (better than a deduction) equal to 30% of your out-of-pocket expense when going solar.

The California Solar Initiative – The State Rebate for Solar

CSI is the main rebate for California and governs the big three investor owned utilities (PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E). If you live in a place where the local municipality is your utility (like Santa Clara) they probably have their own subsidy that is similar and your installer representative will be able to speak with you about any options in your area.  This state rebate goes down over time as more and more people install solar. The CSI rebate is, as of 10/20/09 $1.10/Watt for existing homes in PG&E territory.

So what does this mean?

As of writing this our negotiated price from our partner was 5.53/DC watt. You can find the average cost of solar in California by crunching  this data).  In PG&E territory, the state would pay for $1.10 of that (at the moment) which equates to about 19% of your solar system.

On top of that, the federal government has a 30% tax credit for solar, which has been greatly improved in the recent economic stimulus package (new additions like, it’s not affected by AMT).  This is 30% of your out of pocket expense. (note, we are not tax professionals and please consult your tax professional before acting on any of this).

San Francisco Rebate

San Francisco has an additional cash incentive for solar on top of everything else. What’s awesome is that our online solar estimation tool takes all of these into account.

Property tax exempt

Getting solar won’t cause a reappraisal of your home or increase property taxes.