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If you live in Massachusetts, the answer is an unequivocal yes!

On account of the many incentives at both the state and federal level for solar panels, there has never been a better time to go green with solar energy. Nearly all residential units will pay for themselves in less than 5 years.

Currently the asking price on a five kW solar panel system is around $25,000. This system is going to give you almost 6,000 kWh of electrical energy every twelve months here in Massachusetts and provide over 60 percent of the normal residential household’s energy requirements.

There’s a Commonwealth Rebate which will subtract $2,000 from the price. Plus, if you happen to reside in a modest residence or have a moderate wage, you are likely to receive another $2,000 reduction. Or in case you were unlucky enough to have your residence damaged in last year’s tornadoes, you will be given a further five thousand dollars off.

There also are both national and Massachusetts state tax credits. The federal tax credit is currently a fantastic 30 percent while the state credit is good for $1,000. After the rebates coupled with the tax credits, you should be able to purchase a 5 kW solar panel system for $16,000, even less in case you qualify for the moderate income or moderate home value adders.

A complete system of that size in Massachusetts ought to provide an average of about 80 dollars worth of electrical energy monthly for an annual cost savings of $1,000.

But the long-term profits come from the sale of your SRECs. Each megawatt hour (1,000 kWh) earns you 1 SREC and a 5 kilowatt system will ideally yield about 6,000 kWh annually. Because the state has forced the utility companies to acquire a certain portion of their total electrical energy via renewable sources, they will pay you around four hundred dollars for each of your six SRECs so they can say that you are generating electricity on their behalf. Thus that’s an additional $2,400 in tax-free income straight into your bank account every year.

Now you can have an understanding of how a $16,000 solar panel array can get paid in full in slightly less than 5 years when it nets $3,400 annually including electricity savings and additionally the SREC proceeds.

Solar panels are additionally one of the better home improvement choices available to the Mass. home owner. For a selling price of $16,000, it will up the worth of your residence by $20,000. That happens to be a 125% ROI. Many home improvement projects won’t pay for themselves wholly. Solar panels not only raise the value of your residence more than they cost you, they will make you money every year on top of everything else. They’re even exempt from property taxes for the next 20 years.

And additionally we should keep in mind the main reason these incentives exist to begin with – to save our planet. A five kW solar panel array can reduce your carbon footprint by more than one-hundred tons of carbon dioxide across 25 years, the equivalent of planting eight hundred trees. Each and every year, it’s going to prevent the equivalent of about 3 tons of coal or 20,000 cubic feet of natural gas from being burned to generate electrical power.

As you can tell from all the incentives presently in existence that now absolutely is the right time for solar energy. The Commonwealth Rebate along with the federal and state tax credits trim down your startup expenses. Plus the electric bill savings along with the SREC program supply significant returns and boost your home’s resale amount.

Furthermore there is no way to tell how much longer these promotions will be in existence. The Commonwealth Rebate has already been decreased once and the federal tax credit gets threatened annually.

Additionally, as this industry matures, progressively more financing approaches are becoming offered to homeowners, making solar power economical for everyone. If you have always wanted to purchase solar panels, there’s never been a more rewarding time than the present!

Gary S. Best lives in Massachusetts and spent months investigating the various incentives and financing options before deciding to purchase a 5 kW solar panel system in 2011. He has since created a web site, www.MassSolarInfo.com, educating residents about solar energy in Massachusetts and providing them with a way to easily get free estimates and save up to $500 off their own installation.