Financing a Solar Electric System

A residential or commercial building owner that installs Solar PV (electric) in NYC can receive incentives up to 62% of the costs of installation.  Commercial incentives can cover, in some cases, as much as 90% of the cost. 2011 is a particularly good year for commercial building owners to install Solar because a 30% federal tax credit is also available as a grant. Incentives come in the form of NYSERDA grants and various tax credits.

The incentives are capped at 7 kW for residential systems, 50 kW for commercial systems and 25 kW for not-for-profit, school & government systems. NYSERDA’s Clean Power Estimator can help you find out the appropriate size and costs of your system.

In addition, NYSERDA will further incentivize large-scale solar energy systems in the NYC area through their Customer-Sited Tier Regional Program. This program focuses on solar PV installations of 50kW or more, and includes grants to solar PV installers. For more information on NYSERDA's large-scale solar initiative, click here. In addition, the NYC Solar America City Partnership also helps facilitate large scale solar energy installations for commercial buildings that lie within their Solar Empowerment Zones. Please visit NYC Solar America City for more information.

Solar PV Incentives at a Glance

Incentives for Residential Solar PV Systems include:

• NYSERDA Solar PV Incentive Program
• Federal Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credit
• New York State Solar and Fuel Cell Tax Credit
• NYC Property Tax Abatement

Incentives for Commercial Solar PV Systems include:

• NYSERDA Solar PV Incentive Program
• Federal Business Energy Investment Tax Credit (available as a possible grant instead of a tax credit in 2011 only)
• Federal Accelerated Depreciation
• NYC Property Tax Abatement

Incentives for Installers for Large-scale Solar PV Systems (+50kW) include:

• NYSERDA Customer-Sited Tier Regional Program

Sample Incentive Schedule - Residential

4kW systems have been installed for NYC single-family homeowners but system requirements vary from case to case. 

Read about a homeowner who istalled a solar PV system on his roof!

Sample Incentive Schedule – Commercial

System size recommended for a business varies according to its energy needs.  Incentives are capped at 50kW.

To find a NYSERDA solar PV installer please click here.