Business owners may consider many upgrades to diminish operational costs and market progressive practices to customers. In the case of energy management, solar is a great universal solution that fits any business. Often, after business owners install solar power, the also upgrade other aspects of their business sites such as insulation, heating, and air quality control in tandem to double down on their business property efficiency.

Yes! In Massachusetts, business owners experience a full payback on their solar investments in 3-5 years, depending on panel sizing, net metering, and applied incentives. Businesses with solar power rely less on utilities over a 30-year system lifetime. As an example, if your business pays $1,000 per month in energy costs prior to installing a solar power system, it is estimated that your business will save $360k in energy costs over 30 years after installing solar panels that cover up to 100% of the business’s energy consumption- and that is not including the abundant solar incentives available for business owners to utilize, which help save even more money.

Solar systems are long term investments, and it is important to ensure you receive the full benefit of renewable energy by protecting those assets from potential breakdowns and repairs. Our team suggest that customers enroll in our O&M Program, which offers proactive system monitoring and competitive pricing for preventative system maintenance and inspections.

Yes and no. Not all solar power systems will be able to stay running during a local power outage, but some can. Solar inverters run off electricity, so if your local grid is down, the solar energy system will be off as well. Comparatively, some systems are built so that they can “island” during the day when the sun is out. This means that they will remain producing electricity with the current available sunlight even though grid power is down. Solar energy systems that can perform this process typically cost more than their simpler counterparts, but many business owners consider their abilities worth the price. If your business prioritizes having power during outages, we recommend a battery system to keep you powered both night and day, using stored solar energy.

Yes. The Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is a current US federal tax credit available to business owners at 26%. This credit can be claimed during tax season, in which owners receive a dollar-for-dollar credit on 26% of their solar construction costs. Additionally, the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) is available to business owners to utilize. With MACRS, renewable energy investments can be recovered for federal tax purposes. Massachusetts also has state specific initiatives, such as the SMART (Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target) program.

For business owners who switch to solar, the MACRS program allows for lower taxes based on the cost of the solar panel system. This program allows most business owners to receive the best tax benefits possible over the course of just five years.