Federal grant for clean energy

Commercial property owners are racing to install solar panels on warehouses, and even excess land because there is a strong monetary incentive for going green.  The installers will receive a 30 percent tax credit check within thirty days of the project’s completion.  The Treasury grant program initiated in February 2009 as part the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is due to expire on December 31, 2010. According to the New York Times, “An owner installing a typical 500-kilowatt photovoltaic system on a 100,000-square-foot rooftop at a cost of about $2.2 million would receive $660,000. Depending on how the building is used, that 500-kilowatt system could generate all the building’s power or, for high-demand uses like data centers or refrigeration, as little as 2 percent.”

Courtesy of Google Images

The purchase of the solar panels is no small expense, but the local, state, and federal incentives are causing a drastic increase in the amount of installations.  The benefits are not only saving the planet from the negative externalities, but are helping stimulate economy by increasing investment in the solar power industry.  Finally, the owners of the solar panels estimate a 100 percent return with four to five years of the installations.