1BOG was recently featured in a 3 page article The San Francisco Chronicle.  The response from this exposure has been overwhelming and we have had about 300 applicants because of it so far.  We hope to secure very favorable terms fro the group in January.  

From the article:

” Here’s how it works:

– 1BOG invites people to become a member by signing up through its online registry. Joining 1BOG is free; members are under no obligation to buy a system and are forwarded to an installer only if they want to proceed.

– It requests data from its members: What is their electrical usage; how big a system do they require?

– It initiates a competitive bidding process to, as Ventura said in an e-mail, ensure the “best overall pricing, terms and services” for its members. “We negotiate pricing based on numbers of registrants,” Ventura said in the e-mail. “The bigger the group, the larger the savings.”

– Once 1BOG signs up a solar firm, it puts its members in touch with the solar installer. The installer then does an on-site evaluation of each home, and that’s it. The work of 1BOG is done.”

The $2000 Federal Tax Credit for residential solar energy installations was slated to disappear at the end of this year.  Many times Congress has attempted to pass a bill to extend those credits and many times the bills have failed.  It was looking pretty bleak until some tax incentives for renewable energy were added on to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2009 this Friday.

There were many tax benefits for solar energy but here are the most important ones applicable to the residential market and what they mean:

(Keep in mind we are not tax professionals and please don’t act on any of this information without consulting a tax professional.)

1.  The 30% Tax credit was extended for 8 years, and the $2000 cap was removed for residences.  That means huge things for the residential market and your pocketbook, as well, if you install solar energy on your home.  Let’s say the average solar installation is $30,000, well now you’re talking about $10,000 in tax benefits vs. the old $2000… it’s a big change.  The new way starts on Jan 1st, 2008, and the demarking event that decides when it was “placed in service” is the interconnection by the utility.

2.  AMT filers can now get the credit.  This used to kill a lot of projects on small commercial applications when the owners or partners were paying AMT… now they can still take advantage of the 30% investment tax credit for solar.