For decades batteries have been the second part of a solar system. To be able to store your electricity and use it when you need it the most you can not really put a price on that piece of mind. Especially with what the world has become today. With Electric Vehicles rolling out exponentially so has the price decrease for energy storage.
As of Oct. 4, 2021, and your electric Utility is APS in Arizona the released an incentive program for more adoption of this technology that is so desperately needed. This gives you energy independence and in the case of a power outage you would still have electricity. There were many people in the Valley that thought when the power goes out your solar system will still perform. This is false since the inverter or inverters need to see the grid voltage to still work. With technology advancing faster than the written codes we are now able to back-up whole homes with batteries and enough solar where you will not even need the Utility.
To get back on track APS has a rebate that has been announced and the following is how the battery incentive works: The incentive will be available to APS residential customers who install battery systems, enroll in a TOU and commit to have their batteries discharge to the grid in correlation with their solar to offset them from TOU. What this means to you as a customer you will not need to pay those high rates between the time of use times because the batteries and solar will make you non-existent to the grid. This is the financial benefit for a battery. Keep in mind, in case of a power outage your battery and solar energy will provide you electricity during that time. Just to give you a reference there are less than 1% of solar systems installed that have a battery. What this means is when the power goes out all the solar systems on people’s roofs do not supply power to the home but shut off.
Let’s get down to the dollars and cents:
There are going to be two different programs you can enroll.
Data Only or Data and Battery Management
Let’s start with Data Only: (Option 1):
With the Data Only you, the customer will agree to share data associated with the battery system with APS. The customer is eligible for an incentive of $500 per installed kW for installed battery capacity, with a maximum incentive of $2,500 per home. This should be every battery as long as it discharges 5kW. Remember you agree to discharge the battery during the Time of Use Times.
The second option is Data and Battery Management (Option 2):
With the Data and Battery Management option, the customer will agree to share data associated with the battery system and also up to 80% of the system’s capacity for a maximum of 100 events a year. The customer is eligible for an incentive of $500 per installed kW for installed battery capacity plus an additional $1,250 per home, with a maximum combined incentive of $3,750 per home.
With that being said the difference between the two options is option 1 you agree to discharge your battery during Time of Use and with option 2 you also agree to discharge your battery during Time of Use, and you also let APS control you battery for a maximum of 100 events a year. This means they control your battery for testing purposes. If you opt into this program, you will get an additional $1,250.
You may be also eligible for the 26% Federal Tax Credit (Form 5695)
And the $1000 state Tax Credit on top of the up to $3,750 from APS.
If you have any additional questions, feel free to reach out to us directly.
e-mail: Support@UniversalSolarDirect.com
Phone: 480.634.8100
Universal Solar Direct of Arizona
4836 E. McDowell Rd. Unit 101
Phoenix, AZ 85008
ROC 323007