[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":247},["ShallowReactive",2],{"page-\u002Fguides\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\u002Fguides\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,"\u002Fguides\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","guides\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","-EEtAI_8C7PPQPqv5N4hrluFR-HUm9udi4DDGEtogxk",{"id":191,"title":192,"body":193,"description":238,"email":237,"extension":167,"location":239,"meta":240,"name":199,"navigation":171,"path":241,"photo":242,"role":243,"sameAs":168,"seo":244,"stem":245,"__hash__":246},"authors\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike.md","Mike",{"type":9,"value":194},[195,201,207,214,218,221,224,228,231],[15,196,197,200],{},[131,198,199],{},"Mike Yu"," is the editor of SmallSolarCo. He started it 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 — and found that nothing written about it in California was both plain and sourced.",[15,202,203,206],{},[131,204,205],{},"He is not an electrician, a solar installer, or a lawyer",", and the site says so wherever it matters. What he does is read the primary sources — bill text, CPUC filings, utility tariff sheets, UL standards, manufacturer specification sheets — and put them in one place with the arithmetic attached and a date on every claim.",[15,208,209,210,213],{},"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. It's published in full on ",[103,211,212],{"href":105},"the methodology page",", and the site's tests fail if an article and the calculator ever disagree.",[19,215,217],{"id":216},"what-this-site-does-and-doesnt-do","What this site does and doesn't do",[15,219,220],{},"It explains, catalogs, and calculates. It does not test hardware. Kit pages are built from published specifications with the date they were checked, not from a test bench, and the site says so rather than implying otherwise.",[15,222,223],{},"There is a plug-in kit on the Irvine balcony logging output, which is used to check whether the model is roughly calibrated. Figures from it are labelled measured and carry their conditions. Everything else on the site is labelled as an estimate, and there are far more estimates than measurements.",[19,225,227],{"id":226},"editorial-independence","Editorial independence",[15,229,230],{},"Affiliate commissions don't reach the savings model — it's the same arithmetic for every kit, and the current recommendation for anyone spending under $400 is a nonprofit that pays nothing. We don't accept hardware on terms that involve anyone approving coverage first. If a manufacturer sends something, the page says so.",[15,232,233,234,107],{},"Reach him at ",[103,235,237],{"href":236},"mailto:hello@smallsolarco.com","hello@smallsolarco.com","Mike Yu is the editor of SmallSolarCo. He started it 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 — and found that nothing written about it in California was both plain and sourced.","Irvine, California",{},"\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike","\u002Fimages\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike.jpg","Founder and editor",{"description":238},"authors\u002Fmike","2UYfVkomBje4XbTXMc-HWSa7jliDKILElV8MEZxfPVw",1788880325724]