Over the weekend over 20 people came out for our open house at Charles Forcey’s home in Durham, which sports a recently installed solar hot water and solar electric system

As we’ve previously reported, New Hampshire’s solar hot water rebate program has been running low on funds, and we’ve just received word that only 48 spots are left for the $2,000 federal portion of the rebate.

Once these funds are committed, the average $2,600-$2,900 rebate is reduced to $600-900.

With oil prices what they are, and the generous 30% federal tax credit, solar hot water is still an excellent investment, however if you’ve been holding out for a drop in prices — don’t! The rebates will unlikely ever be this good again.

If you’ve talked to us before, or are interested in moving forward on a proposal, please contact us to get moving, and soak up those rays of sun!


It may be continuing to snow outside, but that doesn’t mean that April 15 isn’t sneaking up! To get you ahead of the game, we’ve prepared this short guide to getting the federal tax credits.

Disclaimer: We recommend using an accountant; all resources we give here are purely for informational purposes, and not official tax advice.

Residential 30% Federal Tax Credit

As we mentioned last month, the 30% federal tax credit covers labor and equipment costs for your solar energy system.

Start by retrieving IRS form 5695, entitled “Residential Energy Credits.” On the second page of this form are two lines where you can total the costs of your PV and/or solar hot water systems. Simply use the full contract price paid to ReVision Energy. If you’re missing that information, contact us and we’ll get it to you tout de suite!

You have our assurance that the system we installed for you meets the federal guidelines, but if you need some resources to send to your accountant, try these:

• DSIRE – Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credit
• 2011 Federal Tax Credits for Consumer Energy Efficiency
• Federal Solar Energy Incentives FAQ (PDF Download)

Businesses: Make Sure to Claim Bonus Depreciation!

Did your business get solar installed last year? Then don’t forget to claim your bonus depreciation for the 2010 tax year!

This additional benefit can result in thousands of extra dollars in your pocket today. This one really requires accounting resources to figure out, but may we direct you to:

• DSIRE – Modified Accelerated Cost-Recovery System (MACRS) + Bonus Depreciation (2008-2012)
• IRS Form 4562 – Depreciation and Amortization (Including Information on Listed Property) (PDF)
• IRS – Instructions for Form 4562 (PDF)

Clean energy advocates in New Hampshire have two big reasons to be thankful this season – the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission has announced an expansion of the solar hot water rebate available to homeowners and has released the application for their commercial solar hot water and solar electric rebate (PDF).

Here are some details on both programs:

Residential Solar Thermal is Hot

The solar hot water rebate in New Hampshire is tiered based on the performance of the system, which is expressed in MMBTU / year. This consists of a state rebate that ranges from $600-900 and a federal rebate which has been raised from $750 to $2,000.

Here’s what the rebate program looks like for different kinds of systems:

For a typical residential project (2 flat plate collectors which produce ~18.25MMBTU/yr) installed at a cost of around $10,500, the incentives amount to $5,750, well over half the cost of the system!

The rebates are retroactive, as well, so if you recently installed a solar hot water system and qualified for the New Hampshire state rebate, you can expect a holiday gift from the PUC soon.

Rebates Arrive for Business

The solar hot water system for Moat Mountain Brewpub will save the brewery an estimate 520 gallons of oil a year

Equally exciting is the arrival of the much anticipated commercial solar hot water and solar electric rebate.

This program makes $1,000,000 available to solar thermal and solar electric projects for businesses, schools, municipalities, apartment buildings – basically any structure not eligible under the residential program.

The rebates are pretty straightforward:

• Photovoltaic (Solar Electric): $1/Watt up to $50,000 (or 25% of the project cost, whatever is less)
• Solar Thermal rebate: $0.07 per kBTU/year up to $50,000 (or 25% of the project cost, whatever is less)

Like the residential solar hot water program, a RETScreen modeling analysis is used to calculate the kBTU/year performance of the solar hot water systems.  Solar electric is fixed based on the nominal wattage.

Solar Economics are Amazing

The generous rebate makes it extremely attractive to invest in solar if you’re a business.  Let’s take, for example, a medium scale solar thermal project for a business that uses a lot of hot water – a hotel or retirement home, perhaps – and is currently heating that water with oil.

We’ll propose a system of 20 flat plate hot water collectors and several super-insulated tanks that will produce over 182,500,000 BTUs/year of clean thermal energy.  We’ll imagine that the system will save 2,300 gallons of #2 oil per year, a result of both reduced oil use and greatly reducing standby losses of the oil boiler in the summertime.

Assuming this hot water system costs around $100,000 gross to install, the fuel savings alone will pay for the cost of the system within its first decade of operation.

However, now there is an exciting suite of rebates to apply:

$100,000 gross installed cost
($30,000) federal tax credit
($28,900) accelerated depreciation – avoided taxes over 5 years thanks to lowered net income, assumes 34% marginal tax bracket
($12,775) state rebate – $0.07/modeled kBtu/year
$28,325 net investment – less than a third of the total cost of the project!

Within this new context, that same solar hot water system will pay for itself within two years thanks to the fuel savings.

While the wasteful boiler imagined in this formula is a “best case” scenario for solar, the economics work out for businesses of all sizes who are ready to both take an enormous cut out of their carbon emissions and save money while doing it.

Contact us for more information about both the commercial and residential solar rebates or to schedule a free site evaluation.

This 3.2kw solar electric system will offset roughly 6,603 lbs of C02 annually. That’s the equivalent of planting 33 trees or reducing 12,000 miles of car travel.

For Maureen Quinn, energy efficiency and conservation is a key part of owning a home.

She had been thinking about solar for years, but the generous state and federal incentives made it easy for her to get started. “Now seemed to be the ideal time for me to make it happen,” she says.

Quinn met ReVision’s Will Kessler at an open house, where she had the opportunity to see the systems up close and get a feeling for how the process went. After a complimentary site visit, Will designed a 3.2kw grid-tied solar electric system to be installed on her south-facing roof. The project specification, according to Quinn, “compared favorably with the competition, particularly in regards to experience and price.”

Saving Green by Being Green

Quinn reports that ReVision’s installation team “exceeded my expectations completely” and had the system running in only two half days. Now she’s enjoying keeping tabs on how much energy she’s sending back to the grid!

“I love saving money every month by using the power of the sun instead of fossil based fuel to power my home,” she says. “It is great to keep some green for being green!”

Maureen’s system will produce roughly 4,402 kilowatt hours of clean, renewable electricity annually, offsetting 6,603 lbs. of CO2 emissions. The 3.2kw system will generate roughly 65% of her home’s total electricity.

It’s tax time, and while that’s a cause for groans from many, you can be happy if you finished installation of a solar energy system in 2009!

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 was greatly enhanced in February 2009 by the federal stimulus plan, which eliminated a $2,000 cap on the federal tax rebate for solar electric systems. The current federal tax credit for solar hot water and solar electric is 30%, with no upper limit.

Unlike state cash rebates, you apply for the federal tax credit when you submit your regular 2009 personal income taxes.

Here’s a link to the IRS Form 5695 that you’ll need (PDF): http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f5695.pdf.

While ReVision Energy can’t offer you tax advice, we encourage you to read up about the tax credit at DSIRE and consult with your tax advisor about the best way to file for the tax credit.

Also, this act has been extended through 2016, so you have time in 2010 to take advantage of this great incentive!

Contact us with any questions you have about solar rebates.

Recently the President signed into action The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This bill, devoted to tax cuts and infrastructure projects, lifted the cap on the federal tax credit for residential solar hot water systems! The federal tax credit, originally capped at $2,000 is now 30% the total cost of the job. The act allows one to take the full 30% regardless of state rebates or financing.

Eliminating the cap for solar hot water systems will help make an investment more affordable and decreases the amount of time it takes for these systems to pay for themselves through energy and fuel savings. The changes to the tax credit for solar hot water in the stimulus bill match the federal tax credit already in place for solar power (PV) systems.

Another great piece of news is that when the stimulus package was signed into action a tax credit became available for high efficiency wood boilers. The new tax credit is 30%, up to $1,500 per household, for the purchase in 2009 and 2010 of a 75% efficient biomass-burning appliance.

If you would like to know more about how you can take advantage of the new stimulus bill, please contact ReVision Energy to get a quote for a system today!

Spring is approaching and there is no better time than now to think about a renewable energy system; start saving, and start reducing your dependence on fossil fuels.