What’s New:
Exact Solar is excited to announce that on June 10th, the IRS redrew its map of “energy communities,” and most of Exact Solar’s service area in Southeast Pennsylvania and New Jersey landed inside the lines.
Commercial buildings in those areas can now claim an extra 10% federal tax credit on a solar project, on top of the 30% they already qualified for.
This IRS designation will offer commercial building owners who go solar within certain counties the opportunity to claim up to 40% back on their commercial solar projects. If their projects qualify for Domestic Content, they can claim up to 50% back on commercial solar projects.
Exact Solar worked with the Amicus Solar Cooperative to pre-safe harbor several project slots. Even though the commercial solar tax credit is on an accelerated phase-out, certain companies who work directly with Exact Solar can still claim the tax credit under the old Inflation Reduction Act Rules.
If you own or manage a commercial building, a school, a township campus, or a house of worship in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, we’d love to work with you to check if your building could qualify and show you how much your organization could save. Book a time to talk with our team by clicking the link below:
Show Me What My Building Qualifies For
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So, What is an Energy Community?
An energy community is a place the federal government has flagged as having built its economy on fossil fuels.
When a mine closes, or a coal plant shuts down, the jobs leave with it, and sometimes the land is left too contaminated to use for anything else.
Congress built the 10% bonus credit into the Inflation Reduction Act to push new energy investment toward those places, stimulating economic growth in communities that the fossil fuel industry left behind by retraining their workforce to build clean energy projects.
There are three ways communities earn the label of “energy community”:
Fossil fuel employment. The county employed a certain amount of coal, oil, or gas workers at some point after 2009, and its unemployment rate is at or above the national average.
A coal closure. A coal mine shut down there after 1999, or a coal plant retired there after 2009. Neighboring tracts count too.
A brownfield site. In this case, fossil fuel activity or other energy-related industry activity has left land in the community too polluted to use for anything else.
It’s worth clarifying that energy communities have nothing to do with community solar, aren’t a utility program, and aren’t a group you join. Either your building sits within a geographical area that the IRS has designated, or it doesn’t.
Energy community designation could save commercial entities who want to invest in solar tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. That extra budget could be put to much better use, no matter what type of organization claims this credit.
School districts can use that extra budget to hire more teachers and invest in extracurricular programs. Townships can build new roads and restore old ones. Churches can invest back in their congregations. Business owners can hire talent with the money they save on their operating costs.
If you’ve ever wondered how much your organization could save with solar, or your organization previously looked into going solar but couldn’t quite make the numbers work, the IRS just gave you a reason to run them again.
Contact Exact Solar’s team today.
