Top 3 Benefits
Solar Saves Money
First and foremost, solar saves your business money (or increases revenue if you’re a landlord). How does that work? Instead of buying everything from the power company, your business uses solar panels on your rooftop, parking lot, or vacant land to produce cheaper power, generated locally. Landlords sell that power and increase revenue per square foot. Owner occupiers use that power to save money on electric bills (lower operating expenses).
The costs you avoid paying to the power company determine the value of solar to your business. These avoided costs (expressed as cost per kWh) are the difference between what you pay the power company and what your solar panels cost. These are your savings. Over time solar panels pay for themselves and your business enjoys free power for decades.
How much money can you save? First you need to know what rate you pay for power currently. Here’s how you find out.
In most of the U.S. you can save as much as $2 per sqft or more.
If you cover the rooftop of a 100,000 sqft building, that’s $200,000 per year. We can help you analyze your power bill to show you how much you can save at your facility.
Solar panel savings increase building value and are often exempt from additional property taxes. Energy is an operating expense, so saving money on your power bill will lower your annual operating expenses, this increases your building value.
Solar Saves Taxes
The #1 & #2 incentives in the US are federal tax incentives. These incentives are available to any for-profit company and easily claimed through your tax filings. They are:
The Federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC)
The Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS)
The Federal ITC is currently at 26% which means your business gets 26% of the total cost of your system returned in the form of a tax credit on your tax filing. This amount is set to reduce to 22% next year.
The MACRS depreciation benefit comes with 100% bonus meaning you can write of your solar equipment (estimated 30 years of useful life) in ONE YEAR. Businesses treat depreciation differently however we can help your tax professional model the benefit of these two incredible tax saving benefits of a solar array for your business.
To determine the value of the incentive, you just need your federal and state tax rate. Many other incentives exist across the country and we help you find them all. However, these are two of the most common incentives that are available everywhere in the US.
Solar is Sustainable
Businesses are increasingly focused on sustainability and improving their triple bottom line. Solar can help each of these targets. Solar saves carbon over other forms of electricity generation and can help you improve the sustainability of your business.
Each solar panel you install can save anywhere between 8-14 lbs of carbon which is equal to saving 18,000-30,000 miles driven.
Average projects save as much as 60 Million Miles of driving throughout its estimated life. We can help you understand the sustainability impacts to your business in addition to the financial impacts on your bottom line.
Contact us to find out more.