Rebates are money that are given back to consumer after they purchase something. You have probably seen these many times before, and have a general understanding of how they work. Green Project rebates are basically the same, except that they are little more complicated since the government is involved. In any case they are essential to the budgeting of all new green homes.

 

The way solar rebates work in California serves as an example of the complexity involved. For a photovoltaic system you can get up to a quarter of the systems cost in rebates. The actual amount depends on the systems productivity and efficiency. The state has special technology in place to protect your systems performance. This technology considers many things, including; your geographic location, the size of your solar panels, whether your solar panels are in direct sunlight, and the efficiency of your system. So for perfect system you will get 25% of the cost back, but most rebates are around 20%.

 

The rebate is paid directly to the professional solar contractor, so the customer does not need to finance the investment on their own. This is good because it makes purchasing the system a lot easier, and does not require larger bank loans.

 

A buy down clause can make rebates a little more complicated. As time moves on the rebates are scheduled to decrease. This pushes the public to buy now instead of in the future. Ideally as the rebates diminish, prices will come down due to market forces. So hopefully you will see the net cost of the system being essentially the same over time. As you can see, free government money comes with some complexity and paperwork attached. But it can certainly pay off to understand how all this works. Spend some time researching and see what your state or province has to offer. It could save you thousands of dollars in the form of Green Project rebates.