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If you live in Massachusetts, the answer is a resounding yes!

Owing to the many incentives at both the state and national level to purchase solar panels, there has never been a better time to go green with solar energy. Nearly all residential units can pay for themselves in less than five short years.

The typical retail price for a 5 kW solar panel set up is around $25,000. This system will give off close to 6,000 kWh of electricity every twelve months here in Massachusetts and provide just about 60% of the average residential household’s electrical energy needs.

There is a Commonwealth Rebate which will subtract $2,000 from that price. Moreover, for those who reside in a moderate home or have a moderate income, you should receive an extra $2,000 reduction. Or in case you were unlucky enough to have your home damaged in last year’s tornadoes, you shall be given an additional five thousand dollars off.

You’ll also receive both national as well as Massachusetts state tax credits. The federal tax credit sits at a fantastic 30 percent and the state credit is for $1,000. After the rebates as well as the tax credits, you’ll be able to purchase a 5 kW solar panel array for $16,000, even less if you should qualify for the moderate income or moderate home value adders.

A complete system of that size in Massachusetts should provide an average of close to 80 dollars worth of electricity monthly for an annual savings of $1,000.

But the long-term revenues derive from auctioning off your SRECs. Each megawatt hour (1,000 kWh) is worth one SREC and a 5 kilowatt system should emit almost 6,000 kWh yearly. Because the state has compelled the electricity companies to acquire a specific percent of their electricity using green sources, they will be compelled to give you about four hundred dollars for every one of those six SRECs so they can say that you’re producing electrical power on their behalf. So that’s a further $2,400 in tax-free income right into your wallet each year.

Now you can have an understanding of a $16,000 solar panel system can be paid off in less than five years as it nets $3,400 annually including electric bill savings in addition to SREC compensation.

Solar panels are also one of the better home improvement possibilities available to the Mass. resident. With a selling price of $16,000, it should up the worth of your personal residence by $20,000. That is a 125% return on investment. Most home improvement projects never pay for themselves totally. Solar panels not only raise the worth of your own residence above what they cost, they are able to bring in revenue each year too. They are even exempt from property taxes for the next 20 years.

And let us keep in mind the key reason all of these incentives exist to begin with – to save our planet. A 5 kilowatt solar panel array will reduce your carbon footprint by more than 100 tons of carbon dioxide over 25 years, the equivalent of growing eight hundred trees. Each and every year, it is going to stop the equivalent of about three tons of coal or 20,000 cubic feet of natural gas from being used to create electrical energy.

As you can tell from the many stimuli presently offered that right now truly would be the ideal time for solar power. The Commonwealth Rebate along with the federal and state tax credits cut down on your startup expenditures. Plus the electric power savings along with the SREC program supply significant income and also bolster your home’s resale value.

Furthermore there’s simply no way to know just how much longer all of these stimuli will be around. The Commonwealth Rebate has already been reduced once and the federal tax credit gets endangered each year.

Lastly, while this market grows, more and more financing options are becoming offered to homeowners, making solar energy cost-effective for everybody. If you have always desired to get solar panels, there’s never been a more rewarding time than right now!

Gary S. Best resides 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 website, www.MassSolarInfo.com, educating residents about solar energy in Massachusetts and providing them with a means to easily get no-cost estimates and save up to $500 off their own installation.