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Solar Power Grants
How to get solar power grants
Getting grant money for solar panels is a great way to get started with renewable energy, and solar grants are very easy to find in almost all western countries including the United States and Canada.
Solar panels and collectors are costly and sizable upfront investments. So, lots of countries have many taken steps to make solar energy utilization more economically motivated for households. Different countries have started providing rebates and grants to those family who are interested in solar energy consumption.
These rebates will be given under various forms like solar energy tax credits, installation rebates or by providing solar panels and others equipments cheaply. Solar power grants will vary country to country.
Here is information about some countries and their solar power rebate systems:
United States of America
USA has recently showed interest on familiarizing various renewable energy sources usage among their citizens. The federal government started giving unlimited federal solar energy tax credits to those who are willing to install solar energy power generation system.
Rebate rates will vary states to states. But in general, it will come around $26,333. To get such a rebate, the first thing you have to do is to file an application to the respective department.
This application consists of whole description of your solar system and an approximation of installation cost. You have to mention your monthly income and the total number of your family members.
After successful submission of all required data to the respective departments, you have to wait for the approval. If they think that you are eligible for solar power rebates then according to the given information you will be provided a rebate or tax relaxation. But the rebate will not go beyond 50% of the initial installation charges.
In this country, citizen should get an approval for rebate from the government before installing any solar system in their home. So if you are unable to get this approval, then you won’t be able to get any kinds of rebate. You have to satisfy certain to get approval from the government and these are mentioned below:
The equipment must be a new one. No "do it yourself project" will be considered under power grants.
Installation must be done by some professional only.
System should be at least 450W peak capacity.
You should mention about your residence area. If you are living in a remote area then rebate system will be different from the suburb area.
Solar power grants in India
In India, banks will provide solar loans for your solar systems. It will be same like any other loan and candidate should qualify the bank’s criteria for the acceptance of loan amount.
Solar loan program in India has won the prestigious Energy Globe World award for Sustainability for helping to establish a consumer financing program for solar home power systems. This loan is sponsored by UNEP in partnership with two of India's major banking groups - Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank, and their sponsored Grameen Banks.
In UK, before applying for solar power grants, applicant should take some energy efficiency measures to ensure that they are minimizing energy requirements.
There is a DTI solar grant of 30% available for non-profit organization under the Low Carbon Building Programmed (Phase 2). This encompasses public sector buildings (including schools, hospitals, housing associations and local authorities) and charitable bodies.
Another option you can try:
Try to receive Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) or other green energy certificates - which entitle you to money for generating energy.
Try to claim other grants and should contact your council or Regional Development Agency
Try to sell any surplus electricity you generate back to the national grid.
Try to contact local banks that are offering green loans to help with the installation.
So it is clear from the above facts that most of the countries are very much concerned about solar energy usages. Governments are providing lots of incentives, tax relaxation and rebates to just popularize the solar energy concepts to every household. Each government has different standards of selecting applicants for rebate schemes. If you qualify then you can get almost 50% of the installation cost under rebate schemes.
No matter where you live, writing grants applications can be quite intimidating especially the first few times. Here is an interesting product to help you produce a professional grant application in minimum amount of time. Read about it here.