As of early September 2025, Sungineer Solar was accepted by NYSERDA as a Contractor/Builder for Energy Storage Systems! 🎉
This means any energy storage system (ESS, or battery backup) that we install may be eligible for a NYS incentive of up to $200/kWh. That could be $5,000 off a standard 25 kWh battery bank!
Dave and I are so grateful to run our business in New York State (yes, really!). There are many regulations and high taxes, for sure, but we receive good value for them. Like the NY-Sun program, the intent of this program is to provide “seed money” investment to spur folks to start or expand businesses and develop local capacity, with the intent of ramping down incentives as the industry matures. Even with the craziness in the world today, this still seems like a reasonable strategy. Go NYSERDA!
Speaking of NY-Sun, that program is winding down incentives for Upstate residential solar installations. A bit more funding was allocated to the final block; it’s not much, and I don’t expect its discontinuation to drastically impact the residential solar market.
The end of the 30% federal clean energy tax credit THIS YEAR, however… Our rate of inquiries over the summer went through the roof. I’m sure I missed getting back to some folks, and I sincerely apologize for that.
Even without the tax credit, though, solar still pencils out. NYSEG keeps raising their rates as overall demand for electricity rises and the grid continues to age. From a recent low of $0.08/kWh in June of 2022, rates hit $0.23/kWh in April of 2025, less than 3 years later.
The other major impact on solar businesses like Sungineer Solar are the restrictions tax credits for projects that use products associated with FEOC (foreign entities of concern, including China). While these affect utility-scale projects (using the 45X advanced manufacturing credit, the 45Y production credit, and the 48E investment credit) more directly than small residential projects, the knock-on effects will impact our market. As domestic demand for FEOC-restricted materials collapses, the demand for products with “clean” supply chains.
For the 2024 and 2025 installation seasons, our preferred module for roof-mounted systems is the REC Alpha RX (manufactured in Singapore), and for ground-mounted systems the Silfab bifacial commercial (manufactured in North America). Our distributor is expecting demand for these products to be high, so if you are thinking of going solar, yesterday would have been the best time to get under contract. Fortunately, today is still a good option. 🙂