Charlie MV
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Joined: Thu May 08, 2008 11:48 pm

Solar power

I saw a very brief story on CNN which as usual gave mostly useless information on a solar powered house in Florida. In the story they mentioned federal and state tax credits for installing solar power systems.Is anybody aware of federal tax credits for installing solar systems? Does your state offer them?

This has been an interest for me since the '80s. I had a very lucrative job selling passive solar water heating systems. The systems worked very well for families of more than 3 by reducing the monthly power bill by an average of 1/3. I followed up with my customers to be sure. The tax credits went away and the little solar businesses dried up and that was that.

Hopefully these tax rebates will come back in light of our current energy problems. The advances made in battery storage and other technology make it an attractive option both for conservation, reduction of carbon emissions and financial opportunities. Anybody know of any federal programs in the US promoting this technology?

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JennyC
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Joined: Thu May 15, 2008 2:25 pm
Location: NW Georgia

There are some credits available -- I was looking this up awile back, though. I'll look again to see if I can find what I saw, but it'll likely be after the weekend, which looks crazy from here. Gotta go outside now.

I think I used Google if you want to check in the meantime.

pete28
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Posts: 119
Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2008 9:24 am
Location: White Springs Florida

charlie, I live in Florida and they do offer some credits to you for a solar system. I know in some states, not sure about florida they will buy your excess power. We want to do that when we get some extra money. It all depends a lot on what your taxes are like. See at my home we live on 5 acres and claim homestead exemption which lowers the taxes. Not sure about SC though.

Charlie MV
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Posts: 1544
Joined: Thu May 08, 2008 11:48 pm

Thx Pete. Our Co-OP does allow power to be sold back. I can't find anything on SC regarding tax credits that makes sense reading it. It appears that there is up to a 25% SC credit but it's not entirely clear. I was hoping someone had used the federal credit and could explain it. I get headaches reading guvment explanations.



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