The elimination of federal tax credits for solar installations and electric cars have wreaked havoc with sales for these green energy technologies. The Republican Congress voted to have these credits expire at the end of last year. People raced to lock in good deals on both EVs and rooftop solar. Then, with the arrival of the new year, sales cratered – at least for a while.
One green technology that did not sputter with the elimination of tax credits is home battery energy storage. Its tax credits also expired at the end of last year, which prompted record sales in the fourth quarter. However, sales climbed even higher in the first quarter of this year. In total, American homeowners installed a total of 673 megawatts of battery storage in the quarter.
Why is the battery storage market so resilient? People’s utility bills are high and rising and if they have rooftop solar along with the batteries, they can radically reduce their reliance on the centralized grid. In addition, many states have policies to encourage home battery adoption. States that have both high electricity rates and storage incentives are leading the way. California accounts for about ¾ of the country’s battery installations. Hawaii has the highest electric bills in the country and storage is very popular there as well.
Meanwhile, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminated long-standing tax credits for home solar installations, so as a result, installations this year will fall to their lowest level since 2020. The bill did not eliminate tax credits for large-scale battery installations by utilities, so these systems are being built at a blistering pace.
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Home battery installations climb despite loss of federal incentives
