SOLAR REBATES AND MORE
Created by admin on 29 Mar 2008 | Tagged as: Uncategorized
NOTE: There are no funds remaining in Florida’s solar rebate program for 2010 or 2011. Additional information at My Florida Climate.
The uncapped 30% federal tax credit on residential solar electric and solar hot water systems remains in effect through 2016.
In 2011 businesses can get a 30% federal cash grant in lieu of a tax credit, on top of state rebates (up to $2,000 in Maine, up to $50,000 in New Hampshire)
Through 2012 bonus depreciation has been extended, allowing businesses to take up to 100% of the depreciation benefit of a solar energy system in year one for systems installed in 2011, and up to 50% in year one for systems installed in 2012 (with the rest coming over the next five years)
U.S. homeowners can make energy efficiency home improvements that qualify for up to $1,500 in federal income tax credits. More information at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
$450 Solar Domestic Water Heating Rebate
This program promotes clean, green solar technology. On a south-facing rooftop with good sun exposure, a solar water heater provides about 70 percent of a family’s hot water needs. Local installed costs are around $5,000 for a freeze-protected system that can withstand Tallahassee’s winter low temperatures. Low interest loans are available through the City, in addition to rebates. These rebates are not available for pool heating systems.
If you’re generating your own power with rooftop solar photovoltaic panels, watch your electric meter “spin backwards” with Net Metering. [see below] *
Most home PV systems are sized around 2 or 3 kilowatts. In north Florida, installed costs of small PV systems have been running about $6 to $8 per peak watt, or about $18,000 to $24,000 for a 3-kilowatt system.
Net Metering Rules
The State of Florida Public Service Commission adopted revised rules for net metering for investor-owned companies that became effective April 2008. These rules do not apply to electric cooperatives [such as Talquin] or city owned utilities.
*The City of Tallahassee has adopted its own rules on net metering for residential and commercial customers who generate energy through PV. Any customer net excess generation (NEG) is carried over to the customer’s next bill at the utility’s retail rate for a moving 12-month period. At the end of this 12-month period, any remaining customer NEG is granted to the utility without compensation for the customer. Refinements specifically to net metering billing for commercial customers are still needed.
CLICK THIS INTERACTIVE GOOGLE MAP TO VIEW LOCATIONS OF
SOLAR INSTALLATIONS IN TALLAHASSEE
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Solar Calculator
PVWATTS calculates monthly and annual energy production in kWh and savings in dollars. The user may also choose to output hourly AC power data which can be saved to a text file.
Tallahassee Solar Tour of Homes
PURCHASING GREEN POWER
After electric utility restructuring in the 90’s “green-power” marketers emerged in the market. This provided customers an opportunity to purchase power generated from renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, geothermal, hydropower, and various forms of biomass. See Public Power for a comprehensive history of The Evolution of Green Tags.
Today, when a customer purchases green power from a utility, for example, the City of Tallahassee, one purchases the electricity generated by mostly natural gas and pays an additional fee. The City of Tallahassee offers green power for the city’s residential and business customers in conjunction with Sterling Planet, a Georgia-based green power marketer. The City offers two options: a power blend of solar and biomass or a solar-only product.
Customers can purchase the blended product, 95% biomass and 5% solar resources, to meet 50%, 75% or 100% of their electricity needs at a premium of 1.6¢/kWh. The solar-only product, which is supplied from solar systems in Tallahassee and other areas of Florida, is offered at a premium of 11.6¢/kWh in increments of 10% to 100% of a customer’s electricity use. [A customer can decide what percent of the electricity would come from solar.] See Sterling Planet’s Sign-up Page for Tallahassee for explanation of fees.
In their December 2007 report, the National Renewable Energy Lab, indicated that more than 750 utilities, or about 25% of utilities nationally, offer green power programs to customers and that in 2006, over 700,000 electricity customers in the US purchased green power.
Hi, I read this post titled “SOLAR REBATES AND MORE” about a week ago, might have been last Sunday, and thought it was a good point. I’ve been trying for the last few days to find your site again but ended up finding it in Google using the keywords “rebate programs.”. Anyway, I’ve forgotten what I wanted to post last week but I will be returning regularly. Bookmarked the page.
I was actually having a discussion with my Mrs about Plumbing contractors a few hours ago. This blog is very interesting, I have learnt something new. Cheers from London!
I think it is fantastic how the stimulus funds are making a difference. They are being taken advantage of all the time with the installation of geothermal heat pumps to replace high energy heating and cooling systems.
Hello. Fantastic work. I didn’t anticipate this on the Wednesday. This is usually a fantastic story. Many thanks!
Like your opinion. Hope green energy information may help someone reduce energy payments.
Saw a link to this post over at Delicious. Thanks for posting it. I’m sure I’ll be back one day.
You should take a look at the roof of some of the fire stations in Tallahassee. You will be surprised to see some solar water heating systems. They look pretty cool. I believe they were installed by a local solar company called Premium Solar. Good job to everybody for making Tallahassee greener!