Congress Must Not Ignore Residential Solar Tax Credit Inequities
Courtesy of RMI.
By Ryan Shea & Russell Mendell
Through the Justice40 Initiative, President Biden has made clear that bringing clean energy benefits to marginalized and low-income communities is a priority. Right now, low-income households experience up to three times higher energy burden (the percent of household income spent on energy costs) than high-income households. Rooftop solar is one of many important solutions available to help alleviate this burden. When financed, it can immediately lower household energy bills with no money down in many parts of the country.
Unfortunately, rooftop solar has disproportionately benefited high-income and White residents. While low-and moderate-income (LMI) residents make up 43 percent of the US population, only 21 percent of residential solar installations benefited these communities in 2019. On top of that, nearly half of communities with a majority of Black residents did not have a single solar system installed.
This disparity is exacerbated by the inequitable design of existing tax credits that incentivize residential solar. The solar investment tax credit (ITC) provides minimal advantage for those with little to no federal income tax — and thus have little use for a tax break.
In its version of the reconciliation bill, the US House of Representatives has included a direct pay option under section 48 (ITC 48) for business- and utility-scale renewables. This would allow entities without sufficient tax liabilities to take full, direct advantage of the ITC and accelerate renewable deployment. But, importantly, the current bill language does not extend the same direct pay provisions under section 25 (ITC 25D) for residential solar.
It is essential for Congress to change ITC 25D from a tax break to direct pay to help bring clean energy to more Americans, particularly LMI Americans. Specifically, the change would:
- allow substantially more homeowners to use the tax credit,
- further enable clean energy sources to help alleviate LMI energy burden, and
- bring solar jobs to LMI communities.
Residential Direct Pay Makes the Tax Credit Available to Substantially More Households
The House’s currently proposed version of the residential tax credit under section 25D can offset the upfront cost of a typical solar photovoltaic system by around $5,000 (assuming $3.30 per watt installed and a 5 kW system). That discount would be far out of reach for almost all LMI households, and even many middle-income households, given that their tax burdens often fall below that threshold.
Around 7 in 10 American tax filers would not have enough annual tax liability to receive the full ITC 25D benefit, according to 2018 data from the IRS. And the more than 4 in 10 Americans that do not have any federal income tax liability at all would see zero benefit.
Consider a married couple with one child making a combined income of $60,000 per year (around 70 percent of the median family household income). Given their annual federal tax liability of around $1,500, they would see only 30 percent of the House’s currently proposed residential solar tax credit in the year that they purchased the system. The inequities are even starker for low-income households. If that same household made $45,000, they would likely not receive any benefit.
While the current ITC 25D does have a carryforward provision that allows taxpayers to apply the rest of the credit in future years, most homeowners do not realize this complicated provision. Even with this policy in place, LMI households likely cannot wait years to receive the full amount, and the bottom half of earners still receive little to no benefit from the incentive.
Residential Direct Pay Can Help LMI Residents Reduce Their Energy Burden
Changing the ITC 25D from a tax break to direct pay would not only lower the upfront cost of solar for residents, but it could also be the catalyst for LMI homeowners in many states to lower their energy costs. For the more than 100 million American households without the tax liability to utilize the full ITC 25D, changing this benefit to direct pay could be the difference between rooftop solar lowering or increasing their bill.
For LMI households without any federal tax liability, an average 20-year rooftop solar loan would reduce their energy burden in just 19 states under the current policy, according to an analysis using RMI’s forthcoming Residential Solar Calculator. Direct pay for ITC 25D would bring this number to 38, doubling the number of states where families below the federal income tax threshold would be able to use a solar loan to save money with no money down.
This change would also decrease utility bills by around 20 percent. This could significantly accelerate the solar market in these 19 additional states and bring the co-benefits to more LMI communities.
Residential Direct Pay Is Essential to Bring Solar Jobs to LMI Communities
By modifying the ITC 25D to direct pay and opening up the solar market to a previously untapped portion of the country, the solar industry can also bring economic development and workforce benefits to LMI communities.
If LMI communities could match the levels of annual rooftop solar installations that are currently seen in high-income neighborhoods, an additional 1.2 GW of residential solar economic activity could take place in LMI communities each year. This would generate nearly $4 billion more in economic activity (assuming $3.30 per watt installed) and over 26,400 more jobs each year (assuming 22 residential solar jobs per MW). To realize this full impact, solar job training will also be essential to ensure a smoother, more equitable transition to cleaner energy sources, while maximizing economic benefits.
It’s Time for Congress to Take Action
Right now, Congress has a once-in-a-decade opportunity to design equitable climate policy that will ensure all communities can access the benefits of renewable energy.
Fortunately, momentum is building. The Residential Renewables for All coalition recently formed to advocate for this change to the residential solar tax credit, which 25 US Senators have urged leadership to include in reconciliation. The coalition includes more than 350 environmental justice advocates, environmental justice organizations, and renewable energy businesses.
For too long, the ITC 25D has made solar deployment more inequitable. To level the playing field and reduce the energy burden for lower-income Americans, all households should have the same opportunity to access residential solar incentives. This simple change can lead to more equitable solar deployment and bring the economic, workforce, health, and emissions benefits to the communities that need them most.
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Hyundai is the latest carmaker offering significant discounts on electric vehicles in the UK. The Hyundai Electric Grant program offers up to £3,750 ($5,000) off popular EVs, including the Inster EV, IONIQ 5, and new IONIQ 9. And it’s not just the UK, Hyundai is launching deals in nearly every market.
Hyundai launches new EV grant program in the UK
Starting today, July 25, all Hyundai electric vehicles in the UK are eligible for the program. Hyundai’s EV grant offers buyers £3,750 ($5,000) off the 2025 Inster, the brand’s new entry-level electric SUV.
The savings are available across Hyundai’s entire EV lineup, with £1,500 ($2,000) in savings on the IONIQ 5, Kona Electric, and IONIQ 9.
“As the electric vehicle landscape continues to evolve, it is important that customers have complete clarity, choice and compelling value when making the switch to electric,” Ashley Andrew, president of Hyundai and Genesis UK, said on Friday.
After launching the Inster EV and its flagship IONIQ 9 this year, Hyundai now offers a complete lineup ranging from entry-level to a three-row electric SUV.
The EV grant is available immediately across Hyundai’s UK dealer network, including for retail, Hyundai Affinity, or Contract Hire purchases.
Until August 31, buyers can score an extra £500 ($671) off the Inster EV and Kona Electric through Hyundai’s Electrifying Summer promo.
Hyundai is also offering 24-hour test drives, allowing customers to try it before making a purchase. The Korean automaker follows other brands, including MG and Leapmotor, to offer discounts ahead of the UK’s new EV grant program.
According to new registration data from Jato, Hyundai was the 10th best-selling EV brand in Europe in the first half of 2025.
The Inster EV, priced from £23,505 ($31,500), cracked the top 20 most registered EVs last month with over 3,300 units sold. Hyundai Motor, including Kia’s share of the EV market, rose from 12.6% to 19.1% in H1 2025.
Hyundai is offering significant savings on electric vehicles not just in the UK, but essentially in every market, including the US, right now.
Following the launch of an aggressive sales promotion this summer, Hyundai is now offering 0% interest for 60 months on its top-selling SUVs. The savings are available on new EV models, including the 2025 IONIQ 5 and 2026 IONIQ 9 (see our review of it).
The 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5, which now offers up to 318 miles of range and a NACS port for charging at Tesla Superchargers, is listed for lease at just $179 per month. That’s about the lowest national offer for an electric SUV currently available.
Both the IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 9 are built at Hyundai’s new EV plant in Georgia, so they still qualify for the $7,500 US tax credit. However, that’s set to end at the end of September.
Ready to try one out for yourself? You can use our links below to find offers on Hyundai’s electric vehicles in your area.
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Tesla is stripping all meaning from the word “Robotaxi” as it plans to expand its supposedly autonomous ride-hailing program to the Bay Area as soon as this weekend, albeit with a driver in the driver’s seat.
As we have often highlighted over the last few months, Tesla’s ‘Robotaxi’ launch is purely about optics.
Tesla is not yet ready to launch a level 4 autonomous driving system, but Elon Musk needs Tesla to achieve a win in self-driving after years of failed promises.
They decided to launch “Robotaxi”, a ride-hailing service in Austin, Texas, but due to the automaker not being ready to deploy level 4 autonomy, it had to add a safety monitor in the passenger front seat at all times.
That passenger has access to controls capable of stopping the vehicle at all times, which is similar to how Tesla’s consumer version of ‘Supervised Full Self-Driving’ works. In short, it’s basically ‘Tesla Supervised Full Self-Driving’, but with the supervisor moving from the driver’s seat to the front passenger’s seat.
Those supervisors have already had dozens of interventions over just 7,000 miles in Austin over the last month.
Now, Tesla is looking to launch its ‘Robotaxi’ in the Bay Area. Rumors are that it could be as soon as this weekend.
However, during Tesla’s earnings call this week, Tesla’s head of self-driving, Ashok Elluswamy, confirmed that it will be with “a person in the driver’s seat”:
“The next is the San Francisco Bay Area. We are working with the government to get approval here, and meanwhile, we will launch the service with a person in the driver’s seat just to expedite while we wait for regulatory approval.”
The Tesla executive claims that Tesla is “waiting for regulatory approval”, but last we heard, Tesla has yet to apply for the proper permits to commercially operate autonomous vehicles in California.
Electrek’s Take
To be clear, this is no different than an Uber driver who owns a Tesla with FSD picking you up at the airport. Tesla is looking to launch an Uber service in the Bay Area with employees at the wheel who use FSD, and it is going to call it ‘Robotaxi’.
It’s no more than a distraction from the fact that Tesla can’t deliver a level 4 autonomous driving system.
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Nexamp just pulled off something that could speed up clean energy deployment across the US – and potentially lower costs for everyone. The Boston-based solar developer just finished building three new solar farms in Maine and Massachusetts. But instead of waiting on the utility to handle all the grid hookup work, Nexamp did it themselves.
That might not sound groundbreaking at first, but in the world of renewable energy, it’s a pretty big deal. Normally, utilities are in charge of any grid upgrades and interconnection work needed before a new solar project can start sending power to homes and businesses. That process can be very slow and expensive.
Nexamp’s new approach, called “self-performance,” flips the script. It lets developers take on some of that work, like ordering and installing equipment, so they don’t have to sit around waiting for the utility to schedule it. That means solar farms can get online faster, which gets clean power to the grid sooner and keeps project costs in check.
The three projects that kicked off this self-performance effort are:
- Hartland Solar – 1.2 MW DC in Hartland, ME
- Barre Road Solar – 1.3 MW DC in New Braintree, MA
- Summit Farm Solar – 2.6 MW DC, also in New Braintree
Nexamp didn’t go rogue – they worked closely with Central Maine Power and National Grid on the interconnection designs, safety standards, and technical specs. But by handling the actual procurement and construction, Nexamp had way more control over cost, timing, and supply chain headaches.
“Self-performance lets us take much greater control over interconnection procurement and construction,” said Daniel Passarello, Nexamp’s lead consulting engineer for grid integration. “We can move much of the interconnection work forward at the same time as the solar farm build instead of treating them as separate. That helps us bring projects online faster and stay closer to budget.”
It also helps that Nexamp already has solid relationships with suppliers. Instead of going through multiple layers of utility procurement, they can go straight to the source, fast.
That kind of streamlining is exactly what the solar industry needs right now. Community solar is booming – as of the end of 2024, nearly 8 gigawatts of it have been installed across the US, according to the the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), and that number is expected to almost double by 2030. But bottlenecks in the interconnection process slow things down.
Sara Birmingham, VP of state affairs at SEIA, called Nexamp’s move a step in the right direction. “We must modernize and streamline the interconnection process to keep pace with fast-growing demand,” she said. “Self-performance is one of several innovative approaches that can accelerate project timelines and lower costs, which benefits all ratepayers.”
Read more: Walmart and Nexamp are rolling out 31 solar farms in 5 states
The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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