Could Now Be The Perfect Time For Solar Energy?

By Gary S. Best

If you live in Massachusetts, the answer is a convincing yes!

Owing to the numerous incentives at both the state and federal level for solar panels, there has never been a better time to go green with solar power. Nearly all residential systems are able to pay for themselves in about 5 short years.

The typical retail price on a five kilowatt solar panel system is approximately $25,000. A system of this size will yield just about 6,000 kWh of electrical energy annually in Massachusetts and supply around sixty percent of the standard residential home’s electricity requirements.

There is a Commonwealth Rebate which will deduct $2,000 from that selling price. Plus, for those who reside in a modest house or earn a moderate wage, you should receive an additional $2,000 off. Or in case you were unlucky enough to have your residence damaged in last year’s tornadoes, you shall receive an additional $5,000 off.

There are also both federal as well as Massachusetts state tax credits. Currently the IRS tax credit is currently a whopping 30 percent while the state credit is good for $1,000. After the rebates and tax credits, you’ll be able to purchase a 5 kilowatt solar panel array for $16,000, less should you qualify for the moderate income or moderate home value adders.

A complete system of that size in Massachusetts will provide an average of close to $80 worth of electrical power monthly yielding a yearly cost savings of $1,000.

But the best long-term profits derive from the sale of your system’s SRECs. Each megawatt hour (1,000 kWh) earns you one SREC and a 5 kilowatt solar panel array will produce just about 6,000 kWh annually. Since the state has compelled the electricity companies to acquire an explicit amount of their total electrical power via renewable sources, they will give you around four hundred dollars for each of those 6 SRECs to say that you are producing electricity for them. And so that’s an extra $2,400 in tax-free income right into your bank account annually.

Now you can have an understanding of how a $16,000 solar panel system can easily be paid off in less than five short years when it brings in $3,400 annually including electric bill savings in addition to SREC compensation.

Solar panels may also be one of the best home improvement possibilities available to the Mass. resident. With a selling price of $16,000, it should raise the value of your home by $20,000. Now that is a 125% return on investment. Almost all home improvement projects don’t ever pay for themselves completely. Solar panels not only raise the worth of your residence more than they cost, they will earn you money every year in the process. They are also exempt from property taxes for 20 years.

And additionally we should not forget the primary reason each of these stimuli exist to begin with – to save our planet. A 5 kW solar panel system would slash your carbon footprint by more than 100 tons of carbon dioxide over twenty-five years, the equivalent of planting eight hundred trees. Year after year, it’s going to stop the equivalent of three tons of coal or 20,000 cubic feet of natural gas from being burned to produce electrical power.

As you can tell from all of the stimuli currently in existence that right now indeed is the perfect time for solar power. The Commonwealth Rebate in addition to the federal and state tax credits reduce your initial expenses. And the electric bill savings along with the SREC program supply significant returns and also boost your home’s resale amount.

What’s more there’s simply no way to know just how much longer these types of promotions are going to be in existence. The Commonwealth Rebate has already been reduced once plus the federal tax credit is threatened annually.

Additionally, as this business grows, an increasing number of financing options are becoming offered to homeowners, making solar power economical for everybody. Without a doubt if you have always wanted to get solar panels, there’s never been a better time than the present!

Gary S. Best lives in Massachusetts and spent months investigating the various incentives and financing options before deciding to invest in a five kW solar panel system in 2011. He has since created a web site, www.MassSolarInfo.com, educating residents about solar energy in Massachusetts and providing them with a way to easily receive free estimates and save as much as $500 off their own installation.

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Topics: Environment | Comments Off

Tags: Commonwealth Rebate, Environment, Home Improvement, home improvement ROI, Massachusetts solar energy, Massachusetts solar panels, Massachusetts solar power, Massachusetts SRECS, renewable energy, solar energy, solar panels, solar power, solar tax incentives

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