Federal Tax Credit for Solar Batteries

[jebatty]

The IRS in a private letter ruling has allowed the FTC for adding battery storage to an existing grid-tied PV system, so long as the batteries only store electricity generated by the PV system and not from the grid. The 30% credit continues through 2019, and it could be a big boost to longer duration PV systems and increase the opportunity for self reliance. Also reducing grid reliance could be a big boost in areas where grid-tied net meter rate for buy-back is less than the homeowner rate for grid power. Solar Batteries

 

[peakbagger]

Yes it will encourage battery use and encourage folks to play games in areas with tiered rates. Basically buy cheap power at night from the grid and keep the stored PV power to sell the next day at a higher rate. In theory the tiered rates are supposed to levelize the load on the grid to reduce the need for peaking capacity during high load periods so the intent is a good thing. That is one of the reasons why Tesla prefers leasing is they can sell the capacity of the batteries to the market remotely when the economics are right. The big virtual Tesla battery in Australia is used that way. Selling five minute capacity can be real lucrative if someone is watching the rates and can switch on a block of load remotely..

The IRS was paying the rebate for battery based multimode systems previously that included batteries so I dont understand why this decision is any different.I expect its because several battery companies are going to be chasing this market so it best to get a specific ruling. When the Tesla sales reps show up at Home Depot it sounds like a fun way to burn up some time querying them on contract details