If the price of solar is dropping fast, why go solar now?

Solar incentives are designed to phase out, and early adopters will benefit the most. It’s true that the cost of installing solar energy has been dropping precipitously as hardware like solar panels and inverters gets cheaper, and as “soft costs” such as permitting, system design and marketing (which Geostellar is designed to reduce) also fall. But government policy supporting renewable energies is subject to big changes. Right now, many states incentivize residential installations with sizable tax rebates, cash bonus systems like SRECs (see our piece on this) and other incentives that make solar affordable – but almost all of these programs are designed to diminish over time. State Renewable Portfolio Standards, for instance, assume that solar adoption will accelerate and SRECs and other incentives are set to sunset as solar gets a foothold in the energy market. The money saved by waiting may not be greater than what’s offered in incentives right now.