South Carolina has one of the most gorgeous beach climates in the country — and that’s good for more than a fun summer vacation! You can also put this sunny weather to good use by harnessing solar energy. And South Carolina’s combo of attractive solar incentives and year-long sunshine means homeowners can save thousands of dollars with a solar panel system.
What are the best South Carolina Solar Incentives, Rebates, and Solar Incentives?
Investing in a solar panel system is not cheap — but if you’re in the right location with lots of sunshine, it can pay off big time in the long run, providing you with thousands of dollars in savings on energy bills in the next couple of decades.
And with South Carolina solar tax credits and rebates, that investment becomes even more affordable! With that in mind, we’ll explore some of the financial incentives that the state of South Carolina offers to its prospective solar shoppers!
Solar Energy Tax Credit
If you decide to install solar panels on your roof in South Carolina, the state will cover some of the installation costs via a solar state tax credit. Palmetto State residents are eligible to claim 25% of their installation costs for solar panels as a tax credit. Plus, if your taxes aren’t high enough to cover the total value of the solar credit in a single year, the credit carries over the next decade.
Utility incentives
Depending on your local utility company, you may be eligible for an additional rebate that may cover your expenses for the solar panel system. Plenty of utility companies also offer payments for each kilowatt-hour of energy you generate via your solar panels.
South Carolina Net Metering
There are certain policies that every homeowner considering solar power should understand — such as net metering. The basic idea of this incentive is to balance out the energy usage and production in a home with solar panels.
If you produce a surplus of energy thanks to your solar panels, your electricity meter should go down. And this is likely to happen at some point during the day — generally speaking, residential solar systems tend to generate more power than a household spends during the daytime.
The net metering policies of specific states can vary from state to state. For example, in South Carolina, the local net metering arrangement allows homeowners to “bank” their surplus electricity from solar panels in the form of solar credits. And when you start using more energy than your panels are producing, you can use the solar credits instead of paying for additional electricity.
The federal solar tax credit
The most widespread solar incentives in the country are federal solar tax credits — and South Carolina is no different in this regard. The Investment Tax Credit (ITC) allows anyone to reduce their installation costs for PV solar panels by 26 percent.
Just like the state tax credit, this only applies to people who purchase their solar energy system with cash or a solar loan — if you lease your panels, you won’t be eligible.
