Time Is Energy

With Solar Incentives On Top!

So the $700 billion Wall Street Bailout passed... A steaming pile of crap that will enrich to greedy bankers that got us into deep doo-doo.

At least we got some solar goodies bundled into it:

1) 8 year extension to the 30% solar tax credit that was set to expire this year
2) I'm told the $2,000 cap goes away for homeowners (I couldn't find that part myself)
3) alternative minimum tax payer can now get the credit
4) utilities can now get the solar tax credit too

Any one of these points would have provided a solid boost to solar, all four will super-charge the solar industry in the US. We will be the number 2 market by MW installed next year (Germany will be number one with ~2.5GW).

Eight year extension means we will get a lot of foreign companies investing in our solar markets.

Nixing the cap is a BIG DEAL. It means the average home install will double or triple in size.

Assuming an $8/watt installed price, the STC reduces the homeowner's out of pocket cost to $5.6/W. This is worth $2.40/watt or ~1/2 the retail cost of the solar panels.

posted by Daniel @ 7:15 PM