Anyone installing solar panels, whether it’s on their home or as part of a large solar farm is eligible for a 30% federal grant towards this cost. This is very valuable – a domestic sized system can easily cost $15,000 or more, so it’s a generous move by the government. Critics of the scheme dislike how solar panels are still not an affordable choice for the poorest of families, but in certain states there are further subsidies available.
Additional help comes in the form of feed in tariff schemes, which pay the owner of solar panels extra money if they are connected to the national grid – the electricity the panels generate but isn’t used can be transferred into the grid for a different house to use. The first President to implement such a scheme was Carter in the 1970s, but it has really become popular for solar energy in more recent years, being introduced in California, Washington, Hawaii and Michigan at varying rates, although in 2010 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission deemed it illegal to implement tariffs above the market value of electricity due to the Federal Power Act which prohibits setting wholesale electricity rates. This does mean there is a theoretical cap on tariff rates, although hopefully an exception will be made soon to allow renewable energy to be encouraged on a large scale.
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