Solar is a great investment for governments and utilities as well as for homeowners. Solar power improves the health of the entire country by reducing pollution from coal-burning power plants. Solar power also fights global warming by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Utilities save money because they don’t have to build expensive power plants to handle demand spikes (because solar panels produce the most energy during those hot summer days when electricity usage peaks!). So, it’s not surprising that Federal, State, and Local governments, along with utilities, are pitching in to lower the cost of your solar panels.
The combination of these incentives drives down the cost of a solar installation by 50-70%. The federal tax credit knocks off 30% of the cost, a Maryland rebate pays an additional 10-20% of the cost, a utility program will pay you 10-20% of the cost, and there are also a variety of local incentives that might be available to you, depending on where you live. The incentives require some paperwork, which Astrum Solar will take care of for you.
The Federal rebate is very straightforward. It is 30% off your installation price. It’s a simple one page form that attaches to your Federal tax return and you will get your money as a tax rebate. There is no risk money will run out.
The current Maryland grant is $1.25 per watt for the first 2,000 watts of the installation, with lower rebates as the installation size gets bigger. The maximum grant is $10,000. Solar installations in Maryland are exempt from sales tax and cannot increase the value of your property taxes.
Local incentives are changing all the time as counties become more aware of the benefits of solar power or run out of funds. If your property taxes are lower than the credit amount in a year, you can carry the remaining credit forward so you always get the full amount.
If you don’t live in one of these counties, write to your local representative! Maryland has made it easy for counties to grant such property tax exclusions.
Maryland passed a landmark bill stipulating that utilities need to produce some proportion of their electricity using renewable sources of energy or pay a fine to the state. The utility can meet this requirement by buying Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) from homeowners as if it had installed the solar panels itself. It’s a win-win-win situation! The homeowner gets money from the utility for putting up solar panels, the utilities don’t need to become experts in building solar roofs, and the state gets more solar installations.
When your solar panels make electricity, you also generate SRECs. These credits acquire value when you sell them to the utility company. Prices are not fixed but are negotiated. Only Astrum Solar can guarantee you the best price for your SRECs. That’s because Astrum Solar is the Mid-Atlantic’s top SREC aggregator. We buy up SRECs from installations around the state (ours and others’), and that gives us leverage in selling them to the utility companies. Of course, we give our own customers the best prices. We are also the only company that offers an upfront payment for the value of all your future SRECs, thereby reducing the initial out-of-pocket cost of the installation. For an average system, this will decrease the price by $8,000.
When you use our Solar Calculator to get an estimate for a solar installation for your home, it will show you the price we can offer you for your SRECs. You can also visit our SREC website to learn more.
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