Virginia Solar Power Rebates

Virginia solar power rebates come in a trickle and rely heavily on your initial investment. Needless to say, this is only going to be possible for those with significant capital, though some utilities may offer low rate loans so check with your energy provider.

The Green Power Switch Scheme

The only scheme of any significance in Virginia is the Tennessee Valley Authority's Green Power Switch program. This scheme applies not only to solar energy systems but any approved renewable energy system though the rates vary.

In order to participate in this program, you need to be a customer of a participating power distributor. A list of these distributors can be found here.

System Requirements

Systems must be greater than 500 Watts and less than 1 megawatt in size. This covers virtually all household solar installations. The system cannot already be signed up for this or another scheme, and the TVA has environmental standards that the system must meet to be eligible for the program. Installation requirements will vary between the different power distributors.

What Is The Benefit?

The TVA provides residents who sign up with $1000 straight away to help soften the blow of the system costs. Then they guarantee to pay you $0.12 per kWh generated for the next 10 years. On average this will work out to about $1400 per year for an average size system. This amount is deducted from your power bills.

Overall this totals to around the $15,000 mark with a great deal of variation between customers. But note that unlike rebates, it takes you a decade to recover this money. Still, this is better than nothing and with the now improved federal tax credit it may well be worth your while to look into this scheme.

Full details of the scheme and the rebates on offer are available at the TVA website.

Other Benefits

Some cities and counties offer a property tax exemption on the value of the solar installation. This tax exemption may be partial or full. Contact your local council for details.

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