Whenever you consider photo voltaic panels, New England states like Massachusetts won’t spring to thoughts, however there are some large motivations for residents to put in photo voltaic panels, significantly the excessive value of electrical energy within the state. The Bay State ranks fifth highest within the US, in keeping with Statista, at 28 cents per kilowatt-hour, and a few residents noticed their electrical energy payments triple in December 2022.
Learn extra: Finest Photo voltaic Panel Set up Firms in Massachusetts
Regardless that Massachusetts does not make CNET’s listing of states with one of the best incentives for photo voltaic panels, the state encourages photo voltaic funding by way of a number of totally different applications together with a tax credit score, rebates and internet metering — the observe of paying clients for extra photo voltaic power.
Some Massachusetts photo voltaic panel incentives are easy, whereas others are remarkably complicated. We’ll break them down in easy language so you’ll be able to perceive all of the monetary incentives for photo voltaic funding within the state.
Notice: The photo voltaic incentives listed under are for residential electrical clients in Massachusetts. There are totally different photo voltaic incentives for utilities, companies, faculties and different organizations. The incentives for photo voltaic panels are present as of March 22, 2024.
Evaluating Massachusetts incentives for photo voltaic panels
Massachusetts photo voltaic incentives
| Massachusetts incentive | Description | Eligibility | Estimated worth* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential power tax credit score | 15% tax credit score again for photo voltaic panels as much as $1,000 | All Massachusetts residents | $1,000 |
| Photo voltaic gross sales tax exemption | Photo voltaic panels and eligible set up tools are exempt from state’s 6.25% sale tax | All Massachusetts residents | $1,500 |
| Photo voltaic property tax exemption | Worth of photo voltaic installations are exempt from residence assessments for property taxes | All Massachusetts residents | $274 per 12 months, relying on native property taxes and elevated worth of residence |
| Photo voltaic Massachusetts Renewable Goal (SMART) | Month-to-month incentive funds for photo voltaic panels | Clients of Eversource, Nationwide Grid and Unitil | Varies broadly |
| Municipal Gentle Plant Photo voltaic Program | Rebate for putting in photo voltaic panels | Native electrical clients in Braintree, Georgetown, Middleborough, Norwood, Rowley and Studying | $4,800 to $9,600 |
| ConnectedSolutions Battery Program | Linked inverters use battery energy at peak use occasions in summer time | Nationwide Grid clients | $2,200 every summer time |
| Harmony Municipal Gentle Plant rebate | Native rebate for putting in photo voltaic panels | Harmony utility clients | $3,125 |
| Web metering | A refund for extra photo voltaic power generated | Most Massachusettsans | Variable charges |
| Federal photo voltaic tax credit score | 30% again on photo voltaic panel installations | All Individuals | $7,200 |
* Estimated worth calculated by utilizing a nationwide common of $24,000 for putting in photo voltaic panels and 1.14% for common Massachusetts property tax.
Massachusetts state photo voltaic tax credit, exemptions, rebates and mortgage applications
Massachusetts has a state tax credit score for photo voltaic panel funding and two main statewide solar-panel incentives for patrons of the massive investor-owned utilities and sure publicly owned native utilities. It additionally presents each gross sales tax and property tax exemptions for photo voltaic panel installations to all residents.
Massachusetts residential power tax credit score
The Massachusetts residential power tax credit score provides a proportion of the price of a photo voltaic panel set up again to residents at tax time. The credit score is value 15% of the price of the photo voltaic panels as much as a most of $1,000.
The credit score consists of each passive and energetic photo voltaic power programs. Taxpayers can solely declare the credit score for photo voltaic panels put in at their main residence. To assert the Massachusetts residential power tax credit score, file Schedule EC together with your state tax return.
Massachusetts state property tax exemption for photo voltaic panels
Photo voltaic panels in Massachusetts are exempt from property taxes, which implies you will not pay extra even when photo voltaic panels enhance the worth of your property.Â
Massachusetts common property tax is 1.14%, in keeping with the Tax Basis. Whereas the worth of including photo voltaic panels to a home will range, the tax break might save Massachusettsans about $274 per 12 months, utilizing a median photo voltaic panel set up worth of $24,000.
Massachusetts gross sales tax exemption for photo voltaic panels
Massachusetts is among the 16 states that give gross sales and property tax exemptions for photo voltaic panels. The gross sales tax exemption for photo voltaic panels additionally applies to wind generators and warmth pumps.Â
Massachusetts state gross sales tax is 6.25%, so that you’d save $1,500 on a median $24,000 photo voltaic panel set up.Â
Photo voltaic Massachusetts Renewable Goal (SMART)
One of many broadest incentives for photo voltaic panels in Massachusetts is the Photo voltaic Massachusetts Renewable Goal (SMART), a statewide tariff program that delivers money incentives on to clients who set up photo voltaic panels. It changed the state’s former photo voltaic renewable power credit score (SREC) program in 2018.
The SMART program is obtainable to all clients of Massachusetts’ investor-owned utilities — Eversource, Unitil and Nationwide Grid, which encompasses Massachusetts Electrical and Nantucket Electrical. The unique purpose of this system was to put in 1,600 megawatts of photo voltaic, however in 2020 it expanded to focus on 3,200 megawatts. SMART is a declining incentive, that means that its worth decreases as extra contributors be a part of this system.
The sum of money clients can obtain from the SMART program is calculated by a sophisticated method that components within the measurement of your photo voltaic panel set up, your utility firm and your “capability block.” SMART compensation additionally consists of “adders,” or further cash for low-income clients or for system traits like battery storage or panels that transfer to trace the solar.
Massachusetts offers two Excel recordsdata that may assist calculate your potential SMART funds — a common SMART calculator (XSLX file) and an adder calculator (XLSX file). College of Massachusetts Amherst’s information to utilizing the SMART calculators could be very useful.
Incentive funds from the SMART program are presently scheduled to final for 10 years after set up of photo voltaic panels.
Massachusetts Municipal Gentle Plant Photo voltaic Program
For sure clients of publicly owned native utilities in Massachusetts, the Municipal Gentle Plant Photo voltaic Program can present an enormous incentive for putting in photo voltaic panels.
Clients of eight Massachusetts native utilities — Braintree Electrical Gentle Division, Danvers Georgetown Municipal Gentle Division, Middleborough Gasoline & Electrical Division, Norwood Municipal Gentle Division, Studying Municipal Gentle Plant and Rowley Municipal Lighting Plant — are eligible to obtain rebates for putting in photo voltaic panels.
Rebates vary from $0.60 to $1.20 per watt for photo voltaic panel installations, as much as a particular most capability for every MLP. Functions for the MLP rebate are dealt with by way of Power New England.
Listed below are the rebates for every of the taking part MLPs, with hyperlinks to the applications.
Taking part municipal gentle crops
Nationwide Grid ConnectedSolutions Battery Program
Massachusetts clients of Nationwide Grid are eligible for a program that rewards photo voltaic clients with battery storage throughout afternoons in summer time months.Â
ConnectedSolutions contacts inverters of enrolled clients through the web and shifts them to utilizing saved electrical energy from batteries at particular peak occasions of power use that will come up from 3 p.m. to eight p.m., June to September.Â
In return, contributors get $275 per kW of electrical energy carried out throughout these occasions. ConnectedSolutions says that the occasions will happen not more than 60 occasions per 12 months for 3 hours every time on the longest.
You will have to have a qualifying inverter to your photo voltaic panel set up to work with ConnectedSolutions. Listed below are the manufacturers of presently appropriate inverters:
- Enphase
- Fortress Energy
- Franklin WH
- Generac
- Outback Linked to Sonnen
- Sol-Ark
- SolarEdge
- SunPower
- Tesla
Native photo voltaic panel rebates in Massachusetts
Apart from the six native utilities taking part within the MLP Photo voltaic Rebate, many different municipal utilities in Massachusetts present rebates for photo voltaic panels on their very own.
Harmony Municipal Gentle Plant photo voltaic panel rebate
Clients of Harmony Municipal Gentle Plant are eligible for a major rebate for putting in photo voltaic panels — $625 per kilowatt as much as a most rebate of $3,125. Residential photo voltaic panel installations as much as 167 kW are eligible, as are all industrial installations of any measurement. There is no such thing as a expiration deliberate for the Harmony photo voltaic panel rebate.
Hingham Municipal Gentle Plant photo voltaic panel rebate
South of Boston, the purchasers of Hingham Municipal Gentle Plant are additionally eligible for a reimbursement on photo voltaic panels. The municipal utility provides $0.60 per watt for photo voltaic panel installations as much as a most of $6,000.
Hudson Gentle and Energy photo voltaic panel rebate
For residential photo voltaic panel installations as much as 25 kW, Hudson Gentle and Energy provides a $1.20-per-watt rebate as much as 50% of the full set up price, at a most of $7,500.Â
Ipswich Municipal Gentle Division photo voltaic panel rebate
Clients of Ipswitch Municipal Gentle Division with photo voltaic panel installations as much as 25 kW are additionally eligible for a rebate — $0.30 per watt as much as a most of $3,000. To be eligible, photo voltaic panels will need to have an azimuth of 90 to 270 levels and a most 20% discount in output as a result of shading.
Littleton Electrical Gentle and Water Division photo voltaic panel rebate
The Littleton Electrical Gentle and Water Division offers a substantial rebate for photo voltaic panels — $1 per watt as much as 50% of the full set up price. To be eligible, the photo voltaic panel set up have to be authorised for internet metering.
North Attleborough Electrical Division photo voltaic panel rebate
For residential and industrial clients with photo voltaic panel installations as much as 25 kW, the North Attleborough Electrical Division provides $0.60 per watt for the primary 5 kW for a most $3,000 rebate. The division has pledged a complete of $60,000 to fund photo voltaic panel rebates in 2023.
Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant photo voltaic panel and battery rebates
The Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant presents two totally different rebates for photo voltaic panels and battery storage. Eligible photo voltaic panels get $1.50 per watt put in as much as a most of $4,500. Batteries with capacities of 5 kW or increased get a further $300.
Wakefield Municipal Gasoline & Gentle Division photo voltaic panel rebates
Wakefield Municipal Gasoline & Gentle Division is one other municipal utility that continues to supply clients with a rebate for putting in photo voltaic panels. The utility provides $0.80 per watt as much as 50% of the full set up price.
Federal photo voltaic tax credit and incentives for Massachusetts
The federal tax credit score for funding in renewable power — technically referred to as the residential clear power credit score — is among the largest incentives for putting in photo voltaic panels in Massachusetts or every other state. You will get 30% of your photo voltaic panel set up prices again as a tax credit score whenever you file your federal return — a $7,200 worth for a median set up costing $24,000.
The photo voltaic funding tax credit score is nonrefundable, that means you’ll be able to’t get more cash than you owe in taxes, however there is not any most, and you’ll carry over any additional credit score to the following tax 12 months and get it again then. The residential clear power credit score could be claimed by submitting IRS Type 5695, which is included in the entire finest tax software program.
Massachusetts internet metering guidelines for photo voltaic power
Web metering — the observe of compensating house owners of photo voltaic panels for producing extra electrical energy than they use — is required by legislation in Massachusetts for the three investor-owned utilities. Part 18.03 of the Code of Massachusetts Rules for the Division of Public Utilities says, “Every Distribution Firm shall present providers to Clients and Host Clients crucial to allow Web Metering, together with these associated to interconnection, metering, calculation, and billing of Web Metering Credit.”
Lots of the municipal utilities additionally present some kind of internet metering for his or her clients, however not all. Web metering in Massachusetts is compensated with billing credit that carry over from month to month. There is not any course of for paying out credit in money on the finish of the 12 months, as in Florida.
Group photo voltaic applications in Massachusetts
Massachusetts is among the first states to permit neighborhood photo voltaic tasks, beginning with its Inexperienced Communities Act of 2008, which enabled “neighborhood internet metering.” Group photo voltaic tasks present photo voltaic power to a number of clients who cannot or do not need to set up photo voltaic panels on their very own property by letting them buy or put money into bigger, shared photo voltaic installations. Whereas rooftop photo voltaic is obtainable solely to owners, each owners and renters can take part in neighborhood photo voltaic.
As of early 2023, Massachusetts has 452 neighborhood photo voltaic tasks producing 725 megawatts of electrical energy, per Perch Power. That is about 17% of the state’s whole photo voltaic output. Group photo voltaic applications in Massachusetts could also be administered by a municipal utility, comparable to Braintree Electrical Gentle Division, or by industrial neighborhood photo voltaic suppliers.
Energy buy agreements in Massachusetts
Massachusetts permits solar energy buy agreements (PPAs), that are contracts that allow third events set up photo voltaic panels on property for gratis to owners, for mounted charges of electrical energy generated. The state’s official information to photo voltaic says that “residential photo voltaic PPAs are typically broadly out there.”
Since you do not personal the photo voltaic panels which might be put in, you will not get lots of the incentives that associate with putting in photo voltaic panels, together with the Massachusetts and federal tax credit or any potential rebates, however PPAs generally is a strategy to get photo voltaic panels on your own home with out paying for them or sustaining them. You will additionally get a set charge for electrical energy that will not go up by way of the years. Nevertheless, PPAs are tied to property for the size of their contracts — typically 20 years — which may make promoting a house harder.
FAQs
Goes photo voltaic value it in Massachusetts?
Whether or not photo voltaic panels might be a superb funding in Massachusetts is dependent upon many components, together with the dimensions of your photo voltaic panel set up, the quantity of shade on your own home, your electrical charges and the quantity of electrical energy you employ. It takes about six to 12 years for photo voltaic panels to pay for themselves on common.
Do photo voltaic panels work in Massachusetts?
Most consultants agree that photo voltaic panels ought to work in each US state, and Massachusetts is not any exception, regardless of its cooler New England climate and comparatively low variety of sunny days. Photo voltaic panels are literally extra environment friendly in colder climate and are not negatively affected by snow.
A report from the Massachusetts Govt Workplace of Power and Environmental Affairs and the Massachusetts Clear Power Heart discovered that Massachusetts’ degree of insolation (out there photo voltaic radiation) is larger than that of Germany, one of many world’s largest markets for photo voltaic panels.
How do photo voltaic tax incentives work?
Incentives for photo voltaic panels are designed to encourage owners to shift to renewable power and cushion the monetary funding required to take action. These incentives can take the type of tax credit, rebates, tax exemptions, grants, particular loans and internet metering insurance policies that compensate house owners of photo voltaic panels for generated extra power that may be put again into the bigger electrical grid.Â
Some incentives like tax credit and rebates happen as soon as, whereas others like tax exemptions and internet metering can final for a few years.
How does the federal photo voltaic tax credit score work?
The residential clear power credit score — typically referred to as the photo voltaic funding credit score — is a federal tax credit score that offers owners who set up photo voltaic panels 30% again of the price of set up. There is not any restrict to the credit score, however it’s non-refundable — you’ll be able to’t get more cash than you owe in taxes. File IRS Type 5695 together with your federal tax return to say the photo voltaic funding credit score, or let the finest tax software program deal with it for you.
What’s internet metering for photo voltaic power?
Web metering is the time period for the method by which utility firms calculate the quantity of power consumed and generated by clients with photo voltaic panels and provides billing credit or cash when the “internet” power utilized in a month is adverse.
Utilities might pay for extra photo voltaic power at their common retail charge or a proportion of it. They might additionally compensate for surplus power at an “averted price” charge, or the wholesale value at which the utility purchases electrical energy itself. Web metering is required by legislation for all in Massachusetts.
