Comments on: How a battery can be eligible for the ITC today and possibly in the future /2019/04/how-a-battery-can-be-eligible-for-the-itc-today-and-possibly-in-the-future/ Covering the world of solar power technology, development and installation. Fri, 12 Mar 2021 14:40:42 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 By: Mohit /2019/04/how-a-battery-can-be-eligible-for-the-itc-today-and-possibly-in-the-future/#comment-103396 Fri, 12 Mar 2021 14:40:42 +0000 /?p=85464#comment-103396 Hi,
It is mentioned that there is no clarification about older systems, has there been any update since then?
I also wanted to know if the one year rule means the one tax year or one year from the date of install?

]]> By: Rajan /2019/04/how-a-battery-can-be-eligible-for-the-itc-today-and-possibly-in-the-future/#comment-100122 Sun, 10 Jan 2021 02:46:13 +0000 /?p=85464#comment-100122 Good article. I was wondering if you could let me know which IRS form I can use to claim a tax credit for 2 Tesla batteries I installed to work with my solar system. There are a few out there. My CPA is not quite sure about energy storage.

]]> By: Kelly Pickerel /2019/04/how-a-battery-can-be-eligible-for-the-itc-today-and-possibly-in-the-future/#comment-98943 Tue, 22 Dec 2020 12:27:20 +0000 /?p=85464#comment-98943 In reply to Nate.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-wd/201809003.pdf

]]> By: Nate /2019/04/how-a-battery-can-be-eligible-for-the-itc-today-and-possibly-in-the-future/#comment-98934 Tue, 22 Dec 2020 10:41:21 +0000 /?p=85464#comment-98934 Hi, and thank you for posting this. Do you happen to have the reference for the 2018 ruling allowing the battery to be installed 1 year after the solar panels?

]]> By: Solarman /2019/04/how-a-battery-can-be-eligible-for-the-itc-today-and-possibly-in-the-future/#comment-61025 Wed, 29 May 2019 07:14:09 +0000 /?p=85464#comment-61025 In reply to James Young.

James, just attended a “home and garden” show, there were three solar PV vendors at this event. One of the vendors was selling a combined system. It is solar PV with a Sonnen ESS or energy storage system. This particular ESS system has a built in radian inverter that has a charge controller that is programmed to charge the battery pack off of solar PV OR it can be programmed to charge off of the grid at off peak electric rate times of the day for one’s own personal arbitrage. As Kelly Pickerel pointed out, the laws are changing and although NOW the ESS has to be charged at least 80% of the time by solar PV. In the future the utilities will probably realize a thousand(s) small ESS units that the utility doesn’t have to repair, maintain or pay for can help the utility by enabling their ‘fueled’ generation plants to run more in a generation mode that sells power to the grid, instead of burning fuel for several hours to keep the plant able to ‘ramp up’ to meet grid power demands.

In a smart grid these thousand(s) ESS units could be called upon to serve the grid with frequency regulation, grid smoothing and regulation and do it in milliseconds to seconds instead of minutes and up to an hour for many ‘fueled’ generation facilities.

]]> By: Kelly Pickerel /2019/04/how-a-battery-can-be-eligible-for-the-itc-today-and-possibly-in-the-future/#comment-60340 Mon, 13 May 2019 12:06:50 +0000 /?p=85464#comment-60340 In reply to Thomas.

Thomas — You hit the nail on the head. Many batteries in certain utility coverage areas are programmed to do just this.

]]> By: Thomas /2019/04/how-a-battery-can-be-eligible-for-the-itc-today-and-possibly-in-the-future/#comment-60295 Sun, 12 May 2019 20:14:24 +0000 /?p=85464#comment-60295 In reply to Solarman.

good idea about the off peak storage system. Just a thought. Hot water heaters can be set to only heat at a specific time. Basically turning on and off the electricity with a simple timer. Why no have a battery system that does not get powered until it is off peak time. Then time the battery to run whatever system using the energy during peak times. The incoming energy from the electric lines would have to be cut off during this time.

]]> By: Solarman /2019/04/how-a-battery-can-be-eligible-for-the-itc-today-and-possibly-in-the-future/#comment-59972 Wed, 08 May 2019 05:13:41 +0000 /?p=85464#comment-59972 The political gerrymandering is obvious, within the IRS “determinations” of how an energy storage system is qualified for the ITC or not. The electric utility certainly doesn’t want to deal with private distributed solar PV systems with energy storage. Energy storage with the correct algorithm could be charged by off peak utility power and used during peak use times of day. Off setting the electric utility’s ability to make money with demand charges for just moving operation of some plants to late afternoon to early evenings. If the residential solar PV system is “allowed” to charge off peak, then the resident gets the arbitrage on electricity costs and the utility does not. The utility will do what it has always done. Cry “lost revenues” to the Public Utilities Commission and ask for a rate increase.
This attitude of the utility is what is causing the “death spiral” of the electric utility as we know it. Every time the cost of a kWh of electricity goes up, early adopters of solar PV systems decrease the amount of time to pay off their systems. Every time the cost of a kWh of electricity goes up a ‘few’ pennies, the more people will defect to their own solar PV and or wind generation systems.

]]> By: Kelly Pickerel /2019/04/how-a-battery-can-be-eligible-for-the-itc-today-and-possibly-in-the-future/#comment-59184 Fri, 26 Apr 2019 12:13:24 +0000 /?p=85464#comment-59184 In reply to James Young.

Any type of energy storage device would benefit from this legislation.

]]> By: James Young /2019/04/how-a-battery-can-be-eligible-for-the-itc-today-and-possibly-in-the-future/#comment-59119 Thu, 25 Apr 2019 21:22:31 +0000 /?p=85464#comment-59119 Kelly – are there any battery technologies like Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries or others that would benefit from this legislative change? thank you – Jim

]]>