solar hot water income tax credit cap removed!?!

michael_34

Scott,
I dont understant NYCerta either. 58% of energy use in NY state is spent on heating. Another 17% on DHW. Electricity use is like 10% (Figures from EIA website). So you can get half of your money back from PV and nothing but an income tax break for heating your house. Maybe these Bills are supported by oil and gas companies. Oh well this will help some folks.

michael_34

solar hot water income tax credit cap removed!?!

Hi all,
The final version of the "stimulus package" passed by the House and Senate lastnight includes a provision that eliminates the cap on the federal income tax credits for residential solar hot water and wind systems. The full credit will be available now for systems installed after December 31, 2008. The bill still has to be signed by the administration, but attached is the conference report from yesterday explaining the agreements come to by the House and Senate. The changes are on pdf pg 15. For a typical 2-3 collector solar hot water system we install, it appears that the tax credit would now be around $5,000-$6,000 instead of $2,000. This is not overwhelming, but good! The wind situation - although a bit more complex because of its not clear if the $500 per half of kW capacity still applies - should also be improved.
That's the way I read it.

Unknown

WHY DID YOU TELL ME THAT NOW!

Already to send in my taxes with my 2000 dollar tax credit( and geo)and now if I just wait till next year it will be a 6 thousand dollar tax credit ..hmmmmm. What to do???????

Mad Dog_2

This great news , Michael

Thank you for updating us. This is common sense legislation that is a long time coming. Mad Dog

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Wayco Wayne_2

Wow!

I just came down form my roof finishing up my frames on my collectors. Sometimes it's a good thing to not get done on time. WW

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kpc_53

file a 1040X

you can amend it it....

singh

No caps!

The way I read it, there will be no caps!!

BTW , look on page H1474 of the report, section 25D.

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scott markle_2

Incentives are problematic. Obviously government needs to exert influence, but incentives are corrupting and stifle performance based competition and integrity.

Tax carbon- and maybe alternatives have a chance develop in a way that drives innovation. Back dating and fake inflated invoices will follow heavy incentives. Also what good does a tax credit do for the milions of lower income americans that don't pay much taxes. We need stimulus but we also need integrity-let history be a guide. incentives don't work in a sustainable way. Why is P.V synonymous with solar when supplemental DHW offers so much at a lower cost?, Incentives!

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

Scott

By encouraging solar for some will help lower fuel prices for all, supply and demand. We used about 2% less fuel last year and the price plummeted. This is great news for everybody.

Thanks, Bob Gagnon

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michael_34

there is a lot of truth

in what mark says. It's a double edge sword. Yes this will not help lower income and this may breed half **** workmanship. We all will have to try and police our communities from the people trying to make a fast buck.

scott markle_2

Sorry for the pessimism, there certainly are worse ways to spend government money, bank bailouts etc.. It is good to see the new incentive structures place more value in solar dhw, hopefully this will help the industry in ways that last longer than the incentives.

Why NYCERTA will give direct grant money for residential PV and Geo but not Solar DHW has always seemed very ill considered to me.

I took a look at that document, it's no wonder government has trouble getting things done! You need a layer of specially trained bureaucracy just to create and decipher this sort of stuff.

Steven Eayrs

So its not for solar dhw?

Scott,
The way you read it its only for wind and PV solar?

I need to pull it up and read it for myself, but don't have the time at the moment.

Steven Eayrs

What did I read??

I read page 15. First they put on the cap for a max. of $2000. Then read later they removed the cap? From the way I read it its the same as it was before. up to 30% for solar dhw, w/ no cap. Same as it was before Obama.
Is this correct?

Is this part of the 1000 pages no one had time to read but just got passed. 879 billion and we're in too big of a hurry to be able to read it first? Something real wrong with this!

singh

Winners and Losers in the package

Once again , Vets get the short stick.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/13/stimulus.winners.losers/index.html


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Andrew Hagen_2

SEIA

SEIA has the solar highlights on their website. It looks as if the cap may be gone.

I was very disappointed when SEIA opposed lifting the cap for residential solar thermal last year. I hope they are standing behind the solar thermal industry as well as the PV industry now. If that is the case, I may even join.

scott markle_2

The way I understand it NYCERTA is funded by electrical surcharges and by settlements with the coal industry. Their mandate is to promote conservation of electrical energy.

Geo systems ultimately place more load on the grid (unless they are replacing resistance heating) Since electrical resistance accounts for a large percentage of residential DHW production it makes no sense to me why Solar DHW would not serve NYCERTA's stated goals.

I would question subsidies for residential solar space heating. The life cycle payback (fossil energy offset) is just not high enough to justify the public investment.

It strikes me as a bit unfair that a wealthy person could make a large investment in a overblown solar system with questionable environmental paybacks and receive a significant amount of public money. Whereas a single collector, direct pumped, thermosyphon, or batch collector system on a lower income home in Florida or LA would have a vastly better cradle to grave environmental impact, and yet receive a fraction of the public support.

Ultimately it will mostly be educated people with accountants that cash in on this. I don't have a problem with that, I just think there needs to be a means by which the people who really need help can benefit from government support of alternative energy.

I envision a government funded non-profit that instals simple residential DHW systems on lower income homes with good solar exposure for free, or for a modest monthly charge that would be less than the energy costs offset by such a system. This would superior to typical social welfare dispersions or home energy assistance programs because it has a societal benefit that effects our common interests- Sustainability- Who wants to get started!

rene_4

I guess you can say that I started installing my DHW solar system last summer and I'm still tweeking it so I guess I can say I installed it after Deecember of 2008. I think I'll wait till next year to claim it.
Rene