[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":227},["ShallowReactive",2],{"page-\u002Fblog\u002Ffederal-tax-credit-is-gone":3,"author-mike":190},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bare":7,"body":8,"dateModified":165,"datePublished":165,"description":166,"extension":167,"howToSteps":168,"kits":168,"layout":169,"meta":170,"navigation":171,"path":172,"schemaType":173,"seo":174,"sources":175,"stem":182,"targetKeywords":183,"titleTag":188,"translationOf":168,"__hash__":189},"content\u002Fblog\u002Ffederal-tax-credit-is-gone.md","The federal solar tax credit is gone. Here's what that does to the math","mike",false,{"type":9,"value":10},"minimark",[11,18,23,26,29,32,36,39,42,96,108,111,114,118,121,124,128,135,141,152,156,159,162],[12,13,14],"answer-box",{},[15,16,17],"p",{},"The 30 percent Residential Clean Energy Credit — Section 25D — was terminated for expenditures after 31 December 2025 by P.L. 119-21, signed on 4 July 2025. It doesn't apply to rooftop solar, plug-in solar, or batteries bought in 2026. There's no California statewide replacement. If a price or payback figure you're reading still subtracts 30 percent, it was written before this and it's wrong.",[19,20,22],"h2",{"id":21},"what-changed","What changed",[15,24,25],{},"For years, a residential solar purchase came with a 30 percent federal tax credit. Buy a $20,000 system, reduce your tax bill by $6,000. It was the single largest subsidy in residential solar and most of the industry's payback arithmetic was built around it.",[15,27,28],{},"It ended for anything bought after 31 December 2025.",[15,30,31],{},"There's no state credit in California that replaces it for this. SGIP, the battery incentive, has been waitlisted. There is, at present, nothing.",[19,33,35],{"id":34},"why-it-matters-less-here-than-youd-think","Why it matters less here than you'd think",[15,37,38],{},"For rooftop solar this was a serious blow, on top of the net billing changes that had already cut export compensation. A $25,000 system that was effectively $17,500 is now $25,000.",[15,40,41],{},"For plug-in solar, the effect is real but proportionally smaller, for a slightly odd reason: the credit was worth 30 percent of a big number for rooftop buyers and 30 percent of a small number here. Losing $255 on an $850 kit stings less than losing $7,500 on a roof.",[43,44,45,60],"table",{},[46,47,48],"thead",{},[49,50,51,54,57],"tr",{},[52,53],"th",{},[52,55,56],{},"With the old credit",[52,58,59],{},"Now",[61,62,63,75,85],"tbody",{},[49,64,65,69,72],{},[66,67,68],"td",{},"800W kit",[66,70,71],{},"$850 → $595 effective",[66,73,74],{},"$850",[49,76,77,80,83],{},[66,78,79],{},"Annual saving",[66,81,82],{},"~$262",[66,84,82],{},[49,86,87,90,93],{},[66,88,89],{},"Payback",[66,91,92],{},"2.3 years",[66,94,95],{},"3.2 years",[15,97,98],{},[99,100,101,102,107],"em",{},"Estimated at SCE's 33.2-cent rate. ",[103,104,106],"a",{"href":105},"\u002Fmethodology","Full working",".",[15,109,110],{},"Payback goes from about two and a half years to a bit over three. That's worse, and it doesn't change anyone's decision.",[15,112,113],{},"Compare that to a $25,000 roof going from roughly nine years to roughly thirteen, which changes plenty of decisions.",[19,115,117],{"id":116},"the-odd-second-order-effect","The odd second-order effect",[15,119,120],{},"Removing the credit made rooftop solar meaningfully less attractive while barely touching plug-in solar. Combine that with net billing already having cut what exported rooftop power earns, and the relative case for a small self-consumption system is stronger now than it was two years ago.",[15,122,123],{},"That's not an argument for the policy. It's just where the arithmetic landed.",[19,125,127],{"id":126},"what-to-watch-out-for","What to watch out for",[15,129,130,134],{},[131,132,133],"strong",{},"Stale pricing content."," A lot of 2026 solar writing was drafted earlier and quietly still assumes the credit. If a payback figure looks unusually good, check the date and check whether it's subtracting 30 percent.",[15,136,137,140],{},[131,138,139],{},"Salespeople who haven't updated."," If someone quotes you a net-of-credit price for a 2026 installation, that's either a mistake or worse. Ask them directly whether the figure assumes a federal credit.",[15,142,143,146,147,151],{},[131,144,145],{},"\"Incentives\" that aren't."," Manufacturer discounts are discounts. A rebate you have to apply for through a programme that's waitlisted is not money you can count on. ",[103,148,150],{"href":149},"\u002Fabout","Our rule"," is that we don't quote any incentive we haven't verified is currently active, and this is why.",[19,153,155],{"id":154},"is-anything-coming-back","Is anything coming back?",[15,157,158],{},"We don't know. Tax credits have been enacted, expired and revived repeatedly over twenty years, and predicting the next Congress isn't our job.",[15,160,161],{},"What we can tell you is what we'd do: don't wait for one. A three-year payback is a good purchase without a subsidy, and buying now with real numbers is better than buying later on a promise.",[163,164],"sources-block",{},"2026-09-01","Section 25D ended for expenditures after 31 December 2025. Any 2026 solar pricing still subtracting 30% is wrong. What it means for plug-in kits.","md",null,"article",{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Ffederal-tax-credit-is-gone","Article",{"title":5,"description":166},[176,179],{"title":177,"url":178,"accessed":165},"P.L. 119-21, termination of the Residential Clean Energy Credit","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.congress.gov\u002Fbill\u002F119th-congress\u002Fhouse-bill\u002F1",{"title":180,"url":181,"accessed":165},"IRS, Residential Clean Energy Credit","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.irs.gov\u002Fcredits-deductions\u002Fresidential-clean-energy-credit","blog\u002Ffederal-tax-credit-is-gone",[184,185,186,187],"solar tax credit 2026","25D expired","is there a solar tax credit in California","federal solar credit ended","The 30% Solar Tax Credit Expired: What It Changes","q1VaaRM7eHCetXkrgKpMgE4DK09ClautpxcthTz9q-A",{"id":191,"title":192,"body":193,"description":218,"email":217,"extension":167,"location":219,"meta":220,"name":199,"navigation":171,"path":221,"photo":222,"role":223,"sameAs":168,"seo":224,"stem":225,"__hash__":226},"authors\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike.md","Mike",{"type":9,"value":194},[195,201,204,208,211],[15,196,197,200],{},[131,198,199],{},"Mike Yu"," started SmallSolarCo after working out that a plug-in panel was the only kind of solar available to him — he rents in Irvine with a west-facing balcony and no roof of his own. He is not an electrician, a solar installer, or a lawyer, and the site says so wherever it matters. He has a background building web products, and built the savings model here himself, using NREL irradiance data and Southern California Edison's published rates.",[15,202,203],{},"Since September 2026 he has been running a plug-in kit on that balcony and logging what it actually produces. Every measured figure on this site comes from that kit. Everything else is labelled as an estimate.",[19,205,207],{"id":206},"editorial-independence","Editorial independence",[15,209,210],{},"We don't accept review units on terms that involve anyone approving the review first. If a manufacturer sends us a kit, we say so on the review, and we keep the right to publish a bad one.",[15,212,213,214,107],{},"Reach him at ",[103,215,217],{"href":216},"mailto:hello@smallsolarco.com","hello@smallsolarco.com","Mike Yu started SmallSolarCo after working out that a plug-in panel was the only kind of solar available to him — he rents in Irvine with a west-facing balcony and no roof of his own. He is not an electrician, a solar installer, or a lawyer, and the site says so wherever it matters. He has a background building web products, and built the savings model here himself, using NREL irradiance data and Southern California Edison's published rates.","Irvine, California",{},"\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike","\u002Fimages\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike.jpg","Founder",{"description":218},"authors\u002Fmike","kb0uodhMlGk_YV3nMOIXdr6bpZgtB5zNoRxdGxsXMQ8",1788387857939]