June 7, 2023

The Solar Heist, or How I Got into the Solar Business, Part 4: The Warning

Season 2's theme is "Solar Noir," and we start off with a darkly comedic Part 4 of our Solar Heist series.  (Catch up to Parts 1-3 here.)  In Part 4, Mazz and Charlie are forced by Richard Prout, a crime syndicate boss, to dig up some CATs  (Certain Awful Things) under Charlie's solar project, which used to be a landfill.  As Charlie and Mazz dig, an unexpected visitor arrives to give Charlie a dangerous pop quiz. Will Charlie pass the test?

True Solar Takeaways

  • Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) solar project owners receive a 30% investment tax credit (ITC) from the IRS.
  • If a solar project is built on a former landfill and a disadvantaged community, the owner can get a 20% bonus tax credit. In fact, under certain conditions, the IRA includes a delicious and profitable layer cake of bonus tax credits that could pay for up to 70% of the upfront cost of building a solar project. 
  • FYI: A tax credit is like an IRS gift card that can be used towards paying owed taxes. Consequently, banks and other profitable companies love to invest in solar projects because the tax credits can reduce their IRS tax bills, often by millions of dollars.  
  • Solar project owners also make money by selling their generated solar power to utilities. Utilities pay the solar owner 3 to 5 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) generated over a long-term contract, typically 25 to 30 years.
  • Learn more about solar tax credits.