Georgia Power Solar Buyback Georgia Solar Incentives, Rebates, Net Metering

In an effort to increase solar energy use, there are a number of incentives available for both residents and businesses in Georgia.

Moreover, many of these programs make it easy to lower the cost of your utility bills quickly.

Of course, in Georgia, much of the renewable energy used is solar, generated at solar farms.

But, you can disconnect from the grid using Georgia solar incentives and lower the cost of solar panels in Georgia for your home.

This guide outlines all the options available.

Solar Panels for Home in Georgia: Peak Sun Hours

Georgia residents are amazingly some of the most fortunate in the country when it comes to peak sun hours.

The state has 3 cities, Macon, Savannah, and Atlanta, that rank in the top 100 cities in the U.S. that have the most sunshine, and on average the state has about 4.74 hours of peak sunshine a day, climbing to 5.16 in the summer months.

It is this high level of solar irradiation, also called isolation, that marks the conditions as very favorable for commercial and residential solar installations.

But the level of involvement by the inhabitants has not been all it should be due to the lack of tax credits on offer everywhere else in the country but are absent here.

The missing tax credits that most states take for granted are the income tax credit, sales tax credit, and property tax credit, all 3 of which should help you reduce the cost of solar panels in Georgia.

Without these financial incentives, it is human nature to hesitate and weigh up the pros and cons of solar power in Georgia if the changeover is going to be so much more expensive than it should be.

The Peach State does, however, have other incentives, both local and federal, on offer that will entice more homeowners to increasingly adopt solar energy,¹ and all that glorious sunshine doesn’t hurt either.

Federal Solar Tax Credit (Federal Energy Credits Reducing Cost To Install Solar Panels in Georgia)

Regardless of what local incentives a state may have, it can’t beat the main ones available from the federal solar tax credit.

To be able to take advantage of this clean energy credit, there are 3 basic requirements.

• You have to be the homeowner.
• You have to own the PV system.
• You have to be at work and paying taxes.

If you’re not at work and paying taxes, you will not be eligible.

If you intend to lease the system, you will not be eligible.

If you are renting the property where you are currently living, this program is not for you.

That is not to say that you have to be in a position to pay for the entire system outright. Not at tall.

There is a certain amount of flexibility in that if you purchase the solar array with a loan agreement, you will still be entitled to claim the credit.

And it’s worth having.

The cost of solar panels in Georgia is not cheap, an average household’s investment is between $13,000- $18,000, but many homeowners have bigger appliances, a swimming pool, an electric vehicle, and not very energy-conscious children.

This will drive up the kWh burned under that one roof which will directly affect the quantity and power output required from your PV system. More panels equal more power but will also mean a higher ticket price that can easily balloon up to $35,000, if not beyond.

This is where the federal tax credit, also known as the Residential Clean Energy Credit comes into its own, saving you anywhere from $3,900 to $10,500 with its 30% tax break.

Understanding the Solar Investment Tax Credit

This solar tax credit program was first established in 2005 and was due to be slowly phased out in 2022.

Very recently, probably due to the popularity of the scheme and the increasing awareness of climate change, and the worldwide impetus to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, it was extended.

President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 prolonged the expiry date and instigated a gradual decrease in the allowance from 30% to 26% in 2033 and then to 22% for the final year of 2034. In 2035 the program will cease to exist.

Filling out and filing the IRS Form 5695 will help you get the 30% tax credit.¹⁴ It is for the solar panels, racking mounts, inverters, batteries, and installation expenses, and is a big money saver.

It has an added advantage in that if your taxes, which are used to offset the credits from the program, are insufficient for that first year, they can be rolled over for the following 4 years until it is all accounted for against your federal taxes.

If you’re fortunate enough to be in a position to be able to finance the PV project, then paying fewer taxes through the Residential Clean Energy Credit program can save you a lot of money.²

Georgia Power Advanced Solar Initiative (Georgia Power Solar Buyback)

Despite its lack of credit programs, Georgia is still offering worthy solutions to make up for the shortfall, and one of the leading proponents is the Georgia Public Service Commission.

Initiated in 2012, Georgia PSC confirmed on March 17, 2015, that an extra 100 MW of solar power would be generated as part of the Advanced Solar Initiative under the Georgia Power Company.

The initiative intended to encourage Georgians and developers to pursue the generation of solar power typically through smaller projects for local use, and several sub-programs were started to move the projects forward at pace.

• If you are an existing customer of Georgia Power, more choices are available for returning electricity back to Georgia Power through small- and medium-scale power purchase programs.
  For homeowners, this is opening avenues that would not have previously been considered but that can offset the cost of solar panels in Georgia.
• Enticing entrepreneurs and solar developers to construct utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar arrays with the intention to either support the electricity grid or allow local households to purchase kWh from the installations.

This Georgia solar incentive initiative has proven to be a success, supporting both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army in generating their own energy from small 30 MW solar power stations on their bases.

And these success stories have inspired small businesses and residential neighborhoods to invest or participate in their own community projects.

Community Solar Farms in Georgia (Solar Panels GA)

With this type of Georgia solar program, you won’t need to be concerned about the price of solar panels.

It’s an ideal program for household and business owners who want to go solar but cannot or do not want to host their own solar panel installation.

Not everyone will have the rooftop space to hold 17-21 solar panels or sufficient surrounding land. Perhaps this is the position you find yourself in, wanting to use renewable solar energy for your property but are restricted from doing so due to lack of space.

The Community Solar Program was first set up in 2016 by Georgia Power in collaboration with GaPSC and regional solar companies and with the support of local communities.³

Over 8,200 panels were arranged to capture as much sunlight as possible and sited on 10 acres of land in the favorable location of Comer.

Since then more community projects have been initiated in Athens, Augusta, and Savannah as well as a few more across the state and they are easy to join and beneficial to use.

So how do they work?

As the solar farm generates energy, the electricity produced is funneled directly into the Georgia power grid. Subscribers are allowed to purchase up to 10 blocks of 1 kW of electricity for a cost of $24.99 each, depending on the output of the particular farm, and not to exceed their energy requirements.

A 1 kW subscription block’s solar production will fluctuate with the season according to the number of cloudy days and other unpredictable circumstances, but it is anticipated to produce between 130 and 240 kWh per month.

Bearing in mind that the average house consumes about 800-900kWh per month, it is safe to assume that you could be buying 4-6 blocks to cover your energy needs with the credits displayed on your energy bill.

If you are one of the following, you will be able to apply but will only be admitted subject to availability.

• It is open to renters as the subscription will be based on the property and can be changed easily for any following renters.
• Sometimes, HOAs object to rooftop solar arrays, so if you find yourself in this inevitable position, this program could well be a workable solution for you.
• If you live in a condo or a shared living space, an onsite PV system may be an impossibility due to a multitude of factors.
• The cost of solar panels in Georgia may simply be beyond your reach despite what Georgia solar incentives are deducted from the 5 professional quotes you have gathered.

Small business owners have a slightly higher fee of $25.99 to participate, but they can do so if their energy usage does not exceed 3,000 kWh.

It is important to realize that the intention of the Community Solar Project is not aimed at reducing the cost of your utility bill. The intention is to promote the state’s intention to convert to more solar energy rather than fossil fuels and your enrollment in the program is contributing towards that aim.

If you want to do both, help climate change, and reduce your monthly expenditure, a community farm can still work in your favor.

Here’s how.

Georgia Power Solar Buyback: Georgia Power Net Metering

In conjunction with the state of Georgia, the Georgia Power utility company has made it possible for you to send your excess, unused electricity back to the grid.

Any registered customer of the utility provider can take advantage of the company’s Solar Buy Back program.

It works on the same basis as net metering in that it allows you to use solar power from the PV system on your rooftop to lower your electricity costs.⁴

A smart meter, called a bidirectional meter, is installed on your property to record the kWh consumed by your household and what is left is sent to Georgia Power who will buy back that excess electricity.

Your system has to be grid-connected rather than storing any leftover electricity in battery banks so it can be recorded accurately by the smart meter.

Any extra solar energy produced in one month is carried over to the following one and credited to your bill to be used by you in times of need.

This is because there will be times when not enough energy will be produced by your PV systems to cater to all the requirements for your gadgets and gizmos so you will then be able to draw on the extra energy previously produced.

In this manner, you will be able to reduce your utility bills in the long term, especially if you reside in a state whose peak daily hour ratio is quite high. Such as Georgia which has 218 days of glorious sunshine a year.

And this is where erecting a cooperative solar community farm is possible. Georgia is keen to attract entrepreneurs to install solar farms, and there is no reason why you couldn’t do it with your friends and neighbors.

Forming a collaborative entity can benefit the local community who can subscribe to the program, ease pressure from the grid, and make a healthy profit.

First, a few procedures need to be followed, and a few feasibility calculations are conducted to ascertain how viable the program will be in terms of the investment level required and subscription method.

Once the location has been selected and all permissions granted, the overall output level for the community and the size of the land will reflect on the number of solar panels, inverters, batteries, racking, and other assorted equipment, that can be installed.

And then, when all the licenses have been approved, the interconnection standards and policies agreements are signed,⁵ sealed, and delivered to the utility company, you can start to sell and produce power to be fed to the utility grid.

The solar farm income per acre will depend on the agreement you have with the power grid company and your customers.

And Then There’s Solar City in Georgia (Georgia Solar Incentives, Rebates, Net Metering)

Land reclamation and utilizing previous land deemed unusable has, since 2016, been converted into a valuable asset that is Solar City.

Over the last few years, as many as 9 PV installations have been installed from a capital investment of $9,850,000, covering more than 35 acres and now generating in excess of 6.3 MW of electricity, enough to power up to 6,300 houses.

Solar Farm	Location	Qty of Solar Panels	Number of Watts	Houses Supplied
Twiggs Solar Farm	Dry Branch, Georgia	300,000 panels	450 GW/h	43,000
Cool Springs Solar	Bainbridge	700,000 panels	298 MW	35,303
Robins AFB	Macon, GA	470,000 panels	128MW	24,000
Simon Solar	Social Circle	100,000 panels	30MW	8,000
Westberry Solar Farm	Jesup, GA	12,780 panels	3,500 MW/h	900

There are solar farms located all across Georgia that supplies electricity to as little as 72 properties in the local community. With the help of some Georgia solar incentives, some communities are crowd-sourcing their way into the solar farm market in various sizes that are proving to be very successful.

Twiggs Solar Farm is by far the largest solar farm in the state, with many more such as Solar City contributing to the clean energy revolution that Georgia is championing.

But it’s unnecessary to be the biggest to make a difference, as long as all the little steps leave behind smaller and smaller carbon footprint.

Before you know what’s happening, Georgia just won’t have 100 solar farms spread across the land, it’ll have 500 and no longer be reliant on fossil fuels for not even the smallest jolt of electricity.

Georgia Solar Rebates (Georgia Solar Incentives)

Not everyone will be able to qualify for the 30% tax credit available under the Residential Clean Energy Credit program. Without it, you may find affording to install a PV system beyond your financial capabilities as it does result in a massive price reduction if you could have claimed it.

But even so, all is not lost.

One of the reasons why Georgia has so many solar farms within its boundaries is because of the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority Solar Program.

It is not directly aimed at residential owners to install solar panels in their homes, but in ways for them to reap the rewards from them.

This Georgia solar program targets large-scale solar farms, making them an offer they can’t refuse, and is open to all forms of renewable energy projects, not just solar.⁶

With a maximum credit of $50,000 per year, this solar credit may be claimed for up to 50% of the eligible expenditures of the solar equipment related to the project infrastructure.

Solar Panel Cost Calculator Georgia (Cost of Solar Panels in Georgia)

Even after realizing that Georgia doesn’t offer sales tax or property tax exemption programs if you are still willing to install a PV system complete with a battery storage bank, then the numbers are all you need to consider.

The Residential Clean Energy Credit is still available if you qualify, which will knock 30% off the price, but it won’t have an immediate impact at the beginning of the project as the payback occurs through offsetting against the taxes you will be owing.

So what are your options?

Trying to cut corners by shopping around for the cheapest panels you can find can result in substandard quality, as well as substandard fitting.

The last thing you are going to want is your nice new solar array winging off into the distance at the first gust of wind.

Besides, solar panels just make up about 25% of the cost of the project.

Other expenses associated with the array are the racking system bolted into the roof, the battery bank, unseen costs such as licenses and permits, and even the difficulty in accessing your roof will affect the installation costs.

You may consider omitting the battery bank entirely and interconnecting directly to the grid, but if your goal is to go completely off-grid ultimately, this wouldn’t be possible.

The advantage of a stand-alone renewable energy system is that you can sever all ties to the utility company and have zero electricity bills in the near future,⁷ but to do that a battery storage system is a must when the sun is not at its brightest.

There are financial institutions and solar companies that have specialized loan agreements that either have a small initial down payment or nothing at all with repayment terms from 5 to 20 years.

They are specialized because the monthly repayments can be calculated around your previous utility bills.

If you’ve ever wondered: how to get solar panels for free, this is a good way to do just that.

The loan can be tailored to meet your requirements so you are not out of pocket.

For starters, if a $0 down payment is okayed by the lender, and the repayments are spread over 15 years, you can be in a position where you are paying less than the monthly utility bills you were accustomed to paying.

Under this scenario, it has cost you nothing to get the loan and will cost you less than you were paying previously for your electricity supply.

Your new PV system can now be secured onto your rooftop, and you will still qualify for the 30% credit discount from the Residential Clean Energy Credit program.

That tax credit can well be essential in tilting the viability of the project in your favor, as well as in securing the loan.

And then, at the end of the loan period, all the electricity generated from your solar panels is yours, free and clear.

Does Solar Increase Home Value? (Solar Georgia)

If you’re wondering, does solar increase home value in Georgia? then the answer is, “Yes!”

A photovoltaic installation will add at least 4% to the value of your home, in some states even more.

Unfortunately, the Georgia solar incentive for exempting the added value from being taxable doesn’t apply here. It is a shame, but that can be mitigated by the money saved through having the system anyway.

But not everyone adopts solar power just to save a few bucks a month. If you’re a climate activist or very conscious about the planet’s health and want to do your share towards healing it, then using solar energy as your primary means of generating electricity in your home is a good place to start.

Cost of Solar Panels in Georgia: Why Are Solar Panels So Expensive?

To those asking, why are solar panels so expensive? On the home market, there are three basic types of solar panels with silicon as the primary component, using production techniques that will affect the final cost to you, the consumer.

Those 3 versions undergo different manufacturing procedures that reflect in the end pricing structure and also the efficiency of the types of PV panels:⁸

• Polycrystalline solar panels
• Monocrystalline solar panels
• Thin film solar panels

The amount of electricity you want to generate, the wattage of the panels, their efficiency, and even the peak solar hours in your area will all affect how much the installation will cost for your home – and how many you will need.

Solar trackers are optional pieces of equipment that can improve solar absorption by slowly moving and angling the face of the solar panels so that they are facing toward the sun throughout the day.

They are an additional cost but in some states are deemed useful and will pay for themselves by collecting more irradiation and producing more electricity.

With or without them, the cost of solar panels in Georgia is not particularly higher than in other states, but the lack of sales tax and property tax exemption on the added property value will raise the price slightly.

But not significantly, and that difference can be offset easily by savings on your electricity bills. And then, in about 12 years, the payback period for Georgia, the books on the PV system will be fully balanced.

Here is a quick glance at the payback period for 6 of the lowest and 6 of the highest states.

State	Cost Before Incentives	Payback Time
New Jersey	$13,750–$22,000	5 Years
Massachusetts	$15,130 to $20,470	5 Years
California	$15,000 to $25,000	6 Years
Hawaii	$13,350 to $19,250	7 Years
Rhode Island	$13,500 to $25,000	8 Years
Arizona	$14,650 to $24,560	8 Years
Georgia	$13,132 to $17,768	12.5 Years
Oklahoma	$11,135 to $15,065	13 Years
Texas	$11,560 to $15,640,	13 Years
Arkansas	$18,010 and $32,418	14 Years
Iowa	$15,512 to $20,988	14 Years
Washington	$13,090 to $17,710	14.5 Years

Solar Rebates From the Government (USDA REAP Grant)

This program is an incentive from the federal government aimed at agricultural farmers and small businesses to encourage them to transition towards renewable energies.

The agency, the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) works on behalf of the entity interested in loans or grants by applying to all the organizations that may be able to provide the funding for them.⁹

Searching for funding sources can be daunting and time-consuming with extensive application processes and reams of forms to fill in. REAP does all the leg work for you based simply on your details and what resource you are interested in changing.

They may not be giving you cold hard cash for your project, but they will go a long way toward locating the sources that will provide the loans or grants for your business.

Solar Panel Installation Georgia and the Easement Laws

Although they do not provide monetary discounts, rebates, tax credits, or other Georgia solar incentives, the easement laws are just as important to your PV installation.

Essentially, what it does is protect your rights to have your solar panels to be unencumbered by a neighbor accidentally or intentionally obscuring access to sunlight.

This can be in the form of untrimmed trees or even a constructor erecting a building that would leave you in the shade. Without your written permission such a construction could not go ahead.

When it comes to the efficiency of your investment, access to sunlight for as many hours a day as possible is key to its success. This law guarantees that no one, and no organization, can take that away from you.

How Does the Solar Tax Credit Work if I Don’t Owe Taxes? (Free Solar Panels Georgia)

If you do not owe taxes because you are out of work or you do not owe taxes for a particular year, you may be wondering how does the solar tax credit work if i don’t owe taxes and if the solar tax credit of 30% still applies to you.

Anyone out of work and who does not have any taxes to pay won’t be eligible for this program as the tax credits are deducted from the taxes you have to pay.

If you are in work but don’t have any taxes to pay for that year, the solar tax credits will roll over into the next year where the allowances will be taken into account.

This doesn’t have to be in its entirety as partial reductions are allowable for up to 5 years so you won’t miss out on this renewable energy tax break.¹⁰

And even if you’re not able to claim this tax credit, there are other ways that you can get solar power that are as good as free.

Condo owners are often unable to benefit from this clean energy source as much as they may want to, not having any personal roof or land space.

In Georgia, there are multiple opportunities to enroll in a solar community farm project, and there’s no reason why you can’t evaluate a few of them before making your decision.

This is an excellent method to support a local program and enjoy the benefits of using a clean energy resource to power your home with possibly no out-of-pocket costs.

Recycling and the Unseen Carbon Footprint Solar Panels

Just because black, noxious smoke isn’t belching out of one end of a solar panel doesn’t mean that it has not created any carbon emissions.

The two points where it has a negative environmental impact are when it is being produced and when it is being disposed of.

But hopefully, that will be changed in the next few years.

The mining and manufacturing process is extremely carbon intensive, with huge furnaces required to separate silicon from sand and rocks to form the ingots at incredible temperatures, all powered by burning fossil fuels.

By the time the modules are completed and delivered to the site for installation, it will take years of operation before the carbon footprint solar panel produces can be offset.

And, the storage systems (batteries) required can be heavy on emissions as well.

Fortunately, innovative modules are being improved to make them more efficient and cleaner by using semi-conducting materials such as cadmium telluride and copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) instead of silicon.¹¹

At the other end of the spectrum, when the solar panels have reached the end of their useful life, is where the other carbon emission problems occur.

After being in operation for over 20 years, millions of solar panels are now being dismantled and thrown into landfills at an unprecedented level that no one had anticipated.

In the drive to install solar panels on as many rooftops as possible, companies neglected to consider how to dispose of them once they were no longer.

There may well be companies that have specialized in the manufacture of PV systems, but ones that can successfully dismantle them are few and far between.

Because of this failure, many experts are extremely concerned that an environmental catastrophe is looming on the horizon if urgent action isn’t taken, with potentially 200 tons of waste ending up in landfills all around the world as soon as 2050.

Part of the problem is the inability to harvest all of the reusable components profitably as first-generation solar panels were not constructed to be taken apart at any time in the future.

Technology has caught up to these first-timers where 99% of the components, especially metals like silver and copper can now be extracted as well as the silicon in the cells.

Newer models are being produced to be taken apart easier to facilitate the recycling process, and more solar manufacturers are opening departments dedicated to extracting as many components as possible to reinsert into new solar panels.

At the moment there is no federal mandate to regenerate these once-useful PV panels. Only peer pressure has opened the eyes of new and old enterprises to work towards instigating a recycling infrastructure so the entire industry doesn’t become smothered in a deluge of millions of old solar panels.

And it’s slowly working as the potential of repurposing these end-of-life panels is being made more possible and cost-effective, and now the industry has woken up to the idea that it could become a billion-dollar industry in itself.

Companies in Georgia are no exception, keenly aware that recycling is the natural offshoot of the manufacturing process.¹² And, just as importantly, the profits to be made can be worth the effort of extracting all the trace materials after all.

Across the state, there are depots in Marietta, Savannah, and Atlanta where your old solar panels can be treated to a new lease of life.

How Accurate Are Solar Panel Cost Calculators, Georgia?

They are as accurate as the information you put in them. As long as the kWh of your house, location, and peak sun hours are inputted, the quote will be fairly accurate.

It may vary in the direction your roof is facing, and the angle may only be determined by a physical inspection by an authorized installer.

Georgia Power Solar Buyback and the Georgia Solar Incentives Packages

Community farms in all shapes and sizes appear to be the priority in Georgia, with utility-scale projects able to supply power to over 40,000 homes, with large investments supported by various incentives to reduce the cost of solar panels in Georgia by tens of thousands.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are much smaller operations that have taken advantage of some of the Georgia solar incentives to supply electricity to less than 100 homes and businesses.

By utilizing the Georgia solar incentives available, you can reduce the cost of solar panels in Georgia installed on your home.

Frequently Asked Questions About Georgia Solar Incentives