Calculators / Solar incentives calculator
What incentives can I actually get?
A buyer gets no federal credit in 2026. What survives is the state layer, and it is thin — so this shows what you would actually receive, with the statute or programme each figure came from.
Three layers, and one of them just went away
Household solar in the United States has historically been supported at three levels: a federal tax credit, a state credit or rebate, and in some states a payment for the electricity produced. In 2026 a buyer gets nothing from the first. What remains is the state layer, and it is thin — most states we publish offer a buyer nothing at all.
That is why this calculator shows a total rather than a headline percentage. A percentage of a credit you cannot claim is not an incentive, and a programme that pays over fifteen years is not the same money as one that reduces the invoice. The table above separates them by when the money actually arrives.
An incentive you cannot claim is worth nothing
Two conditions decide whether a credit reaches you, and neither is modelled, because both are personal:
- Tax liability. A credit offsets tax owed. If you owe less than the credit, you receive less than the credit, subject to whatever carry-forward the programme allows.
- Ownership. Almost every incentive follows the owner of the system. Lease a system and the company claims what is available to it; some state credits are written to reach a lessee, most are not, and the model honours which is which per programme.
A third condition applies to programmes that pay for production: the money arrives while the system generates, so it depends on the system still being there and still working. That is a different kind of promise from a credit on a tax return, and it belongs in a different mental column.
Where each figure comes from
Every incentive above is recorded from the statute, tax department page or programme document that grants it, with the date we read it. Where a programme exists but we cannot model it faithfully — an unusual schedule, a rule that depends on the individual utility — the calculator raises a flag under the results rather than quietly leaving it out. Both directions of that error matter: overstating what you will receive and understating it are the same failure.
The full list across the states we publish, with sources, is in state solar incentives in 2026. What changed federally, and the dates that decide which year you fall into, is in the tax credit guide.
Questions
- Why is the federal credit zero for a buyer in 2026?
- Because the residential credit expired for systems placed in service after 31 December 2025. The commercial credit a third-party owner claims is separate and still available, which is why a lease shows a credit above and a purchase does not. This is the single largest change to household solar economics in a decade, and many calculators have not made it.
- A credit and a rebate are not the same thing?
- No, and the difference decides whether you get the money. A rebate is cash off the price. A credit reduces the tax you owe, so a household whose liability is smaller than the credit receives only what it owes, and one that owes nothing receives nothing. Where a credit carries forward to later years, that is a feature of the specific programme and worth confirming.
- What is a payment for production?
- Some states pay for the electricity a system generates rather than discounting what it cost. Illinois and New Jersey both do, on different schedules, and the money arrives over years rather than at installation. The model pays these out on the schedule the programme documents specify and shows the total above.
- Why is my utility rebate not listed?
- Because this list is statewide programmes only. Utility and municipal rebates exist, change often, and are frequently first-come until a budget runs out; we do not publish figures we cannot verify against a primary source and keep current. Check your own utility directly - it is one of the few places a genuinely large incentive still hides.
The other calculators
All of them run the same engine on the same data, so two can never disagree. They differ in what they put first.
- Solar panel size calculator
How many kilowatts, how many panels and how much roof, from your bill and your state.
- Solar panel cost calculator
Installed price for your system on both price bases, and what is left after credits.
- Solar payback calculator
The year your savings repay the system, and the curve that gets you there.
- Solar savings calculator
What you keep over 25 years, and the bill you avoid each year on the way.
- Lease vs buy solar calculator
Cash, loan and lease on the same house, with who keeps the federal credit.
- Solar battery calculator
The same system with and without storage, side by side.
A screening estimate from published data, not a quote and not tax or financial advice. Every input is listed under the results with the source it came from and the date it was read; the formulas are on the methodology page. Confirm against real quotes, and with a professional, before relying on any figure here.
Published 6 September 2026. Data last verified 6 September 2026. Rates: EIA 2026-07. Found a figure that looks wrong? Tell us — we publish corrections.