Not to discuss the merits of the new plan, but I heard something that made my ears perk up. Is it true, that under the new tax bill/law that starts in 2006, there is a $2000 tax credit toward residential solar installations (not tax deduction, but tax credit)? If what I heard is correct, then pool heating cannot count towards the credit.

Thanks in advance.

I think this is what I heard about (basically 15% of the price is a credit, up to $2k):

Provide Tax Credit for Residential Solar Energy Systems: Current law provides a 10-percent investment tax credit to businesses for qualifying equipment that uses solar energy to generate electricity, to heat or cool or provide hot water for use in a structure, or to provide solar process heat. No credit is available for non-business purchases of solar energy equipment. The Administration proposes a new tax credit for individuals that purchase solar energy equipment used to generate electricity (PV equipment) or heat water (solar water heating equipment) for use in a dwelling unit. The credit would be available only for equipment used exclusively for purposes other than heating swimming pools. The credit would be equal to 15 percent of the cost of the equipment and its installation. The credit would be nonrefundable and the lifetime maximum credit allowed to an individual would be limited to $2,000 for PV equipment and $2,000 for solar water heating equipment. The credit would apply only to solar water heating equipment placed in service after December 31, 2001, and before January 1, 2006, and to PV systems placed in service after December 31, 2001, and before January 1, 2008.

What I have read:

US Energy Bill just signed:

Increases the existing 10% tax credit for commercial solar installations
to 30% for two years; no cap on amount of credit; applies to all
property placed in service after December 31, 2005 and before January 1,
2008; credit reverts to the permanent 10% credit thereafter

Creates a new 30% tax credit for residential solar installations for two
years; capped at $2000; applied to all property placed in service after
December 31, 2005 and before January 1, 2008

Also Solar PV and Thermal as seperate , so one can install each and get the 2k credit for both for a total of 4k

http://www.solarray.com/CompletePackages/Incentives_T.php

>applied to all property placed in service after
>December 31, 2005 and before January 1, 2008

from my read on this unless it gets interpreted closer, there is a difference between purchased and placed in service.

Thus, i am going to be ordering both an inverter and a bunch more panels toot sweet! I just won't place it into service till 1/1/2006


http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/re ... y?id=35169

http://www.seia.org/solarnews.php?id=21
go to this page and click on the Adobe "federal FAQ"

SEIA, while it says (and so do I) it can not give tax advice, says if you wait till 1/1/2006 to "put in service" it will count

(It also says pool heaters dont count but i can see a use for DHW which will also get a $2,000 max 30% credit
(spend $6,666.67 and whack $2,000 off federal taxes)

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/ ... index.html

henry, here is a picture of the 4 hurricanes of last year and the 3 that tracked over your house. you8 cna click and copy.
quite impressive (and scary)

My concerns are there is little availability in PV panels at this time, so with the new tax incentives both federal and soon it looks like in CA, it will make a bad situation worse

In CA, a business could get a system for only 20 cents on the dollar, that will make a tidal wave of systems to be installed as it will be cheaper to put in huge PV systems compared to buying from the grid (businesses)

Don't get me wrong, I am VERY happy to see things moving in the RE movement and the incentives will boost demand, I fear prices on panels just will increase yet again in a supply and demand tug-of-war with Germany/Spain/Japan , all of which can consume all world production without the US buying anything ...

Hopefully in the next two years new supplys will come-online but thats all limited by silicon feedstock

the silicon feedstock has been projected as a pinch point for a couple of years and was said to be fixed by 2007 BUT that was before the feds increased tax credit from 10% to 30% and included everyone. from my research, albiet not too extensive, there are not many companies that supply isilicon.
EverGreen Solar does have at least 18 months guaranteed supply from what i read due to good contracts.

Evergreen is a speck on the wall in terms of production, I beleive its less than 20Mw/year. They are building a new 50Mw plant in Germany , but thats a partership thing and all the output will be for, you guessed it, Germany

glad u came thru katrina ok; eom