solar stimulis

rene_4

Hopefully some of you solar experts have had a chance to look into what the stimulis package as far as a tax credit for us who installed a solar DHW system. Is there a cap and how much is it. When the package came out, there was some questions as to how much the cap was and even if there was even one. If there is, where can I find a copy showing it? I'll need it to give my tax preparer next year. Thanks to everyone.

Rene

Mark Eatherton

Hard to understand...

I got this from a local non profit education foundation.

ME


Smart Energy Living News
February 2008

Inside: Energy News and Facts // Energy Events //
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

[
"Let's Get To Work"
Quotation by President Obama after signing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
at the Colorado Nature & Science Center February 17th, 2009



How will the stimulus bill help you make your home more energy efficient??

The Economic Stimulus Act expands energy tax credits for clean energy projects at home by:

Increasing the 10% tax credit to a 30% tax credit for efficiency improvements.
Eliminating the cap for specific improvements (such as windows and furnaces).
Establishing an aggregate cap of $1,500 for all improvements placed in service in 2009 and 2010.
For residential renewable energy systems removing all caps on the tax credits, which equal 30% of the cost of qualified solar energy systems, geothermal heat pumps, small wind turbines, and fuel cell systems.
Eliminates a reduction in credits for installations with subsidized financing.
Go to http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/news_detail.cfm/news_id=12248 for more information on these and other homeowner and car buyer energy saving tax incentives.
The U.S Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) received $16.8 billion dollars from the economic stimulus act. While most of it will go to grants and research & development homeowners will see the money through rebate programs and tax credits.

Specifically, 5 billion will go towards the Weatherization Assistance Program in which the act will increase the eligible income level and increase funding for each home up to $6,500. In addition, will allow homes previously weatherized in 1994 or earlier to gain assistance again. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will receive $250 million to increase the energy efficiency of HUD-sponsored, low-income housing.

The act also stipulates that $3.1 billion of EERE funds will go towards State Energy Programs who adopt strict building energy codes and utility incentives for energy efficiency measures. To help states implement the measures the act allocates $500 million to the Department of Labor to train workers for careers in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Other funded areas of the EERE Economic Stimulus Act included:
- Renewable Energy and Smart Grids Spurred by Economic Stimulus Act
- Economic Stimulus Act to Result in Greener Federal Buildings and Fleets
- High-Speed Rail and Transit Boosted by Economic Stimulus Act
- Economic Stimulus Act Extends Renewable Energy Tax Credits
- Clean Energy Bonds Expanded by the Economic Stimulus Act

For more information visit http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/enn.cfm

WATTS NEW!

Colorado Renewable Energy Conference 2009
Friday & Saturday Aug 28-29 Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO

Come learn about "Clean Energy: Pathways to a Low-Carbon Footprint"
http://www.cres-energy.org/events/conference/

scrook_3

the language

The short answer is: for solar hot water systems, the previous $2k cap has been lifted. There is no more cap. The tax credit is now 30% of the installed cost.

This is the same as photovoltaics. I believe that the tax credit form for 2009 will be much like the one for 2008, which is here:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f5695.pdf

The difference, obviously, will be that the maximum credits shown in the current form will be removed.

For people who want to dig further, the legislation is here:

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/h1/Recovery_Bill_Div_B.pdf

And if you really want to get confused, check this out. It would appear that it may be possible to receive the tax credit in the form of a grant. Div. B, Sec. 1603, p. 153 of the legislation says that you can get a grant from the Treasury in lieu of tax credits.

What I also read somewhere is that more info will need to be forthcoming from the Dept of the Treasury on how that program will be set up.

But on the face of it, it does indeed sound like a true grant. This is pure speculation on my part, but the grant program may have been put in place to avoid the problem of people not being able to claim all the credits in the 3 years allotted, and/or to make sure that people reluctant to invest because they'd have to spread out the credit can simply get all the money back immediately. This is generally not an issue with a simple SDHW install, but with PV it is pretty easy to run up a $10k+ tax credit for a ~3-5kW installation. Under the old tax credit system, you could only claim a credit up to the amount of your tax liability for the year, but could carry forward excess credits for up to 3 years. Drawing out the credit over several years is something of a disincentive, particularly if you are financing the system.

scrook_3

bump for rene

bump...