Utah Solar Incentive News 2009 Update

I wanted to keep you up-to-date on exciting changes to renewable energy and photovoltaic (PV) system incentives for 2009. The combination of incentives and market forces are making 2009 a particularly attractive year to do renewable energy projects.

• Residential and commercial photovoltaic, wind, and solar hot water systems now have an uncapped 30% tax credit, depending on system size this can triple or quadruple the tax credit compared to last year.
• The federal government will be offering 30% direct cash grants for PV systems, as an alternative to tax credits for commerical projects. The grants are paid within 60 days of application for the grant. This will significantly lower the time to recoup PV system installation costs, and eliminate the need for the company to have sufficient tax liabilities to recoup tax credits on large projects.
• The federal incentives for Photovoltaic systems are now based on total system cost, before any other incentives (state or power company), increasing the credit or grant basis as percentage of the system cost.
• The Utah Public Service Commission has just ruled that Utah's Net metering will work on an Annualized basis, allowing excess generation credits to be carried to the next month. This will ensure owners can optimize the size of their photovoltaic arrays without penalty.
• Prices for photovoltaics have come down 20% this year due to a confluence of market forces. We don't know how long it might last, but we should hold though fall 2009.

Let us know if we can provide a solar proposal for your home, building, or architectural project.

Troy Harvey
Heliocentric
Salt Lake City, Utah
(801) 453-4934