uh today we're going to hear from Peter lindström who works for clean energy resource teams as you can see from his slide he's our manager of public sector and Community engagement and this is part of a series of on the left you see that little round yellow logo Sears Community energy ambassador program uh which you're going to be learning more about but today we're going to hear specifically about paying for your project for residents from Pete so go ahead take it away Peter if you do have questions so sorry please write them in the chat but let's not interrupt Pete till he's done with his presentation thanks sorry go ahead Pete normally you can interrupt me any time you want but uh yeah we'll just uh we'll swing right into it uh thank you everybody for joining us it's a thrill to present on this topic today and this topic is one of the most frequently asked questions that we get at C throughout my time at CS folks are really motivated on doing a Energy Efficiency project or renewable project but gosh they're just not sure how to pay for it how to actually get it done uh and the good news is there's a lot of new incentives uh both at the state level level Federal level utility level and more to help homeowners and other entities get these projects across the finish line so let's dive right into it all right well before we dive right into it I just want to do the uh customary thing of saying who we are we are the clean energy resource teams and we have a really straightforward mission to help communities do clean energy projects all across the state uh if uh you want to be more energ efficient if you want to use renewable energy then folks are turning to CS uh for technical assistance to help them get across the finish line so this may be homeowners this could be businesses could be non profits uh Farmers you name it you want to be more energy efficient or use things like solar you can you can find the answer at the clean energy resource teams so we're we're a bit of a unique organization in that we're a partnership organization made up of four Partners one is the Southwest Regional development commission down in the southwest part of the state in Slayton we have a nonprofit in the Twin Cities the Great Plains Institute the uh state of Minnesota is a partner of Cs we work very closely with the Department of Commerce and then last but not least Where We Are are based our world headquarters on the St Paul campus of the University of Minnesota our fourth and final partner the regional sustainable development Partnerships all right so here's uh uh what I plan on talking about for the next 20 minutes or so um G to dive into tax credits and deductions energy audits some common financing tools and uh loans specific to solar tax credits rebates and then just just a real high level on some nonresidential financing opportunities as well all right well just a bit of a 101 a refresher you know we sometimes we throw around these terms and and I know for myself I get a little Tangled Up on uh what the difference between all of these different things and so a tax credit uh just a a dollar for dooll reduction in the taxes that you owe you get a tax credit for $100 you owe $100 Less in taxes tax deduction little bit different uh that reduces the amount you are taxed um and so it reduces your your tax liability um and then uh rebates you know these could be point of sale rebates um they could be uh a check that you receive at some point later um or a direct deposit from your local utility or the state or the or the feds sometimes you can get even even all three all right you know almost every time my phone rings and and and uh someone asks a question gosh where do I start the answer more often than not is get an energy audit no matter if you're a homeowner a business a farm uh getting that energy audit is just a great Baseline uh to know what to do uh for your project and the good news is is that there's a a tax credit so you can get for your for your home you can get $150 tax credit uh for that home energy audit this is this is relatively new within the last uh couple of years and uh I always encourage folks to contact their utility first their utility often times not always but oftentimes provides uh home energy audits or energy audits for for businesses or non nonprofits uh so that's always a great place to start number one to learn if they provide an audit but also number two to learn what sort of rebates or incentives may be available for your project I'll also say Excel has a great program called the home energy Squad really uh just do a great job uh for energy audits in Excel territory and then Minnesota energy resources if you're a Minnesota Energy Resource customer for for gas uh then they do home energy audits as well so that's a great program as well just on a a fairly high level I wanted to touch on what are some common home financing tools um these aren't just for Energy Efficiency or or for solar um these are just common uh financing tools if you're doing uh a home improvement in and I'll also say that cash is king So if you can save uh create a bit of a rainy day fund for these types of improvements I think that's always the best then you don't have to worry about those loan repayments or what have you that's not always possible especially for for uh for larger projects and so we have Home Improvement loans are are very common these are unsecured personal loans offered by Banks and and Credit Unions online lenders and because the the loans are unsecured you don't need to use your house as collateral to qualify and your interest rate and and qualifications generally depend upon your your credit score the good news is these loans do come pretty quickly if you do qualify um you fill out all the paperwork you can get those funds um you know the next day or the next couple of days uh Home Improvement loans typically have shorter repayment timelines uh lower loan amounts and fewer fees than home equity loans or or helocs the next thing I wanted to talk about here for example most Home Improvement loans are about uh 10 12 years at the max while home equity loans have terms that can be significantly longer 20 30 40 years um and uh so um because helocs are uh they're secured loans so they're backed by your home um you can qualify for lower interest rates which is a benefit um and so generally these are for I guess I'd say they're well suited for longer uh larger projects if you want to tap into your existing home equity uh but don't want to like a a revolving credit which is a a helot um you can apply for a home equity loan which is sometimes referred to as a second mortgage um though that's a A can be a good option as well get a lump sum to help get that project or a cash out refinancing um replaces your current mortgage with a new larger loan and and gives you a whole new interest rate um and then you get to pocket the difference between your old mortgage and the new loan and uh and use those those funds for your home improvement project Minesota the housing uh state agency they've got some really gang Buster loans that I wanted to make sure that you're all aware of three of them in particular uh first one is a fixup home improvement loan and uh these are um so I'll say they have a lot of great information online uh on Minnesota housing website including a link to lenders that provide these loans so there are dozens and dozens of banks credit unions community- based organizations that provide the uh loans that are on the screen to that you see before you um including the fix up home improvement loan and this can be for Energy Efficiency projects um but it's much broader than that so it could be for um you know it could be for Energy Efficiency furn furnaces boilers water heaters Windows um insulation that sort of thing but it also could be for just almost any sort of Home Improvement um that needs to be completed a septic system bathroom remodel tree removal uh even that um Etc so the home the uh so that's the fix up home improvement loan the energy loan plus program is as you might imagine for energy projects specifically it's uh about I think it's $2,000 up to $30,000 is the maximum amount of of the loan and again just like the fix up home improvement loan there are dozens of lenders out there which you can find on the Minnesota housing website that provide these loans the maximum term is 20 years at a fixed interest rate the rehabilitation Loan program an emergency and accessibility Loan program is an interesting one maximum loan $37,500 155-year term uh and the loan is Forgiven if you do not sell your home or if you do not move uh during the the uh term of the loan it's a forgivable loan could be uh for single family housing could be for Condominiums manufactured homes uh duplexes triplexes that sort of thing um and it's for basic home um safety livability and Energy Efficiency for the home so so for example lead paint would is a qualifying expense but also uh um electrical wiring or emergency furnace uh or boiler replacement plumbing repairs that sort of thing Windows um so again it's a loan program that is for Energy Efficiency projects but but broader for uh but broader as well all right and then there's a couple of uh uh loans that I wanted to mention that are specific for uh for solar projects one uh nonprofit here in the Twin Cities Center for Energy and environment large nonprofit they have a a wide variety of loan programs and they are one of the lenders for the Minnesota housing fix up loans and energy related loans but they also have a a solar loan as well that's um quite competitive and a a popular option for for solar loans and then the other one I wanted to mention is uh solar loan for three credit union three credit unions came together Affinity Plus Blaze Credit Union and the Mayo Employee Federal Credit Union all came together and and created what they call CU green Credit Union green and uh for solar projects in particular uh fixed interest rates again um at fairly competitive rates obviously they they change from uh dayto day or regularly changing um credit rates this morning I saw one was at about 6% so uh fairly competitive at different loan terms 5 years 10 years 15 years um so that's worth looking at as well so those are some different options for loans let's talk tax credits so there's been a tax credit for Energy Efficiency projects at your home for for quite a while um it was Capp it was capped at $500 for your lifetime oh boy $500 cap for your lifetime that's changed thanks to the inflation reduction act which passed Congress about two years ago uh there's still a cap uh it's $3,000 $3,200 cap but it's not once in an eternity it's an annual cap so it's a 30% tax credit on that Energy Efficiency project uh and um there's kind of I guess subc caps um so it's it's uh 1,00 $1,200 for any combination of Home energy um home U uh envelope improvements so you think like installation Windows Doors electrical upgrades $1,200 cap there but uh if you do um a heat p pump heat pump water heater biomass stove there's a $2,000 annual cap for this Energy Efficiency home improvement credit so all told between this $2,000 air source heat pump uh cap and then the $1,200 annual cap for other items $3,200 annual cap um for this this tax credit okay there this is another one that's been on the books for a while residential clean energy tax credit but again uh with the change with the inflation reduction Act passed a couple of years ago um it set the tax credit at 30% it had been going up and down they called it the solar coaster it was 26% going down to 22% actually going all the way down to 10% now it is set at 30% for the next decade um or so and uh so it um uh so it's really something that you can count on and in addition um it said for uh uh for storage energy storage again it was has been on the books for a while but it had to be tied into a solar array to get the tax credit that is no longer the case you can have Standalone energy storage and get a 30% tax credit uh for that energy storage system up to three KW in capacity okay rebates these are in the works I'm going to talk about two rebate programs the first one is called homes uh this is for for individuals um homeowner managing Energy savings rebates or Hames and this program is intended to make homes more energy efficient and providing improvements like insulation air sealing efficient Heating and Cooling that sort of thing both for single family homes and for multifam buildings it this one's an interesting one because uh you can um uh use um uh uh it's a it's both a a modeled or a measured approach and what I mean by that is um under the modeled approach your the contractor that you select uses modeling software to deter to determine how much energy you will save with the improvements that you're thinking about making and using that software if it shows a 20% Energy savings uh that you get a $2,000 rebate if it shows a 35% Energy savings your rebate is bubbled 35% or more energy savings your rebate is doubled to $4,000 so that's the modeled approach the measured approach is uh you know how much energy you are using before the improvements um you make the improvements and then you measure your energy usage afterwards and again if you hit that 20% number uh for Energy savings you get a $2,000 rebate 35% or more $4,000 rebate and these dollar amounts are doubled for low and moderate income households so that's the home rebates program and this is the the here rebates uh or home electrification and appliance rebate program uh this is for homeowners and renters specifically low and and moderate income the other one anybody can tap into that one um you you don't need to be income qualified this one you do uh for low and um and um low and moderate income individuals as mer as measured by the area median income which I'll talk about in a minute both of these uh both of these rebate programs will be rolled out early 2025 is what uh what we're hoping for um early mid 2025 um it's a federal program um but the feds provide funding uh to the state and then it's up to each state to come up with their own program and the state of Minnesota is very busy doing that as we speak so crossing our fingers that that'll be rolled out uh here in the next several months and so this one is uh for specifically for U for appliances as as the name implies and uh you can see what the maximum rebate amount is for uh these these example um appliances that we have on the screen today if your area median income is 80% or below the Ami you qualify for 100% uh rebate if it's between 80% and 150% that it's a cut in half um a 50% rebate still very very healthy incentive you know one point I wanted to make is that and it may have may have stated this earlier but um these can be stacked you know you can uh you can get a a home [Music] rebate you can uh get a utility incentive uh tax credit uh and another sorts of incentives so they're they're made to stack one upon another all right let's talk about the Ami for a for a second the area median income boy this is a doozy of a a slide here I recognize but I just just really wanted to point out here that the Ami the area median income it matters where you live uh the area and um and so I just mentioned the specific percentages um for the appliance rebate is uh you get a 100% rebate if you're under 80% Ami or a 50% rebate if you're between 80 and 150% Ami so let's just say you live in aen county and your household size is four people um uh this chart will show that your income to get 100% rebate um uh needs to be 7,550 or lower or if it's between that number and 132,00 then that's a 50% rebate in aen County uh and that changes of course based on what county you're live in you live in uh and so we have this chart available um uh this chart I should say this chart is available on the Minnesota Department of Commerce website and uh uh it's just a a really helpful handy tool um to find what that Ami that area median income is so I I did mention this is the the process that the state is going through to get these rebates um approved uh created I mentioned that it's a it's federal funds um uh that go to each of the individual states states have to come up up with a plan they need to get an approval from the feds on each one of those plans there's been a lot of stakeholder engagement I'm sure there will continue to be stakeholder engagement on what these rebate programs look like in Minnesota uh with the intent that they will be rolled out um certainly by this time next year all right so we've been talking about some federal and state incentives um but gosh again now I'll Circle back to where I started always check with your local utility um on what sort of rebates they they have in place and incentives that they have in place um I'll also say that there are several cities that have their own incentive programs both for Energy Efficiency projects and solar projects Minneapolis being uh a good example of that but there are uh others out there that have uh incentive programs um for these types of projects so uh check with your city and as well to see if if they have incentives along with your local utility so another great resource is um uh called rewiring America um and they have a really handy guide on uh this legislation that I mentioned passed a couple of years ago that um has bolstered a lot of the initiatives that have been talking about the inflation reduction act they have a IRA inflation reduction ACT guide uh and then they have a calculator online that I use right regularly when I'm thinking about my own Energy Efficiency improvements uh this calculator you can put in your address so it knows what your the Ami is area median income and uh you drop in some other basic information you hit enter and it kicks out different incentives that you um qualify for so it's a it's a really helpful tool um and so even though these rebates not all of them are available right now I really encourage you to to start planning to start thinking about ahead about about your own home uh what what needs to be accomplished in your own home and I mentioned there's an annual cap on the Energy Efficiency tax credit so you could be thinking about well next year I'm going to be I'll do this this year I'll do this next year I'll do that following year I'll do this other thing and really just maximize your your tax credit and and rebates well I will tell you the the feds have been busy but gosh the state legislature has been busy as well uh with their own um whole host of State clean energy incentives um so we have things like electric vehicle rebates $2,500 for a a new EV $600 for a used EV this rolled out um earlier this year and uh was was very popular right from the get-go uh a heat pump rebate program $4,000 State incentive this is on top of again you can stack these things this is on top of the uh the federal rebate um and there's a there's a great incentive something I need to do uh a residential electrical panel upgrade if we're talking of Electrify everything is the is the phrase that people use and so if we're electrifying everything that means that our electrical panels U may be may be in need of an upgrade as well so the state is providing a healthy incentive for that and then on-site energy storage systems uh installation incentives this one is uh brand new in fact it just got rolled out um just this month I believe and uh for energy storage up to F uh 50 KW paired with solar it has to be has to be paired with uh solar and uh the apps are um uh uh $7,000 U for um for an energy storage unless you're low income um or income qualified is the the term that they use in which case be more than double than that $15,000 um incentive for energy storage there's different programs there's one in Excel territory they're managing their own and then there's a Department of Commerce um program which is managing everywhere else all right just uh as I mentioned at the outset um I just want to provide a really high level overview for um incentives for businesses and for non- taxpaying entities whether that's a nonprofit or City County schools um can't forget about those folks and boy there are some great incentives out there again thanks in large part to the inflation reduction act which passed a couple years ago one is reap this one's been on the books for a long time uh rural energy for America program or reap you I used to love talking about reap because it was a 25% grant for businesses for Farms uh in Rural America which is population 50,000 or less and the inflation reduction act changed that said it could be up to a a 50% Grant uh that provides um uh loans as well so it went from 25% Grant to 50% grant for a solar project or an Energy Efficiency project at a business um at business or farms in uh in Greater Minnesota um so that's out there there's one called 179d energy efficient commercial buildings this is a deduction not a tax credit it's a deduction it's based on square footage of the building um and also based on the Energy savings uh again the inflation reduction act boosted this tax deduction from uh I think I think it was a buck 88 right around there to upwards of $5 uh tax deduction based on square footage um so the more energy savings uh the greater that tax deduction and they expanded it so that non non- taxpaying entities nonprofits that don't pay taxes uh cities counties schools could allocate that deduction to a designer um an architect and engineer and uh and hopefully um uh lower the total cost of the project because of that allocation so we've talked about solar tax credits uh already a little bit for residential again uh it's been available for businesses uh for quite a while um but similar to on the residential side they they capped it at 30% um but also they put in place what are called adders and so 30% is the minimum tax credit but if you do certain things or or if the project is located in certain areas then these adders come into play so if it's um so for example for your project if you use domestic content made in America uh then there could be a and there's a 10% added for that so that 30% goes to 40% tax credit if you're located in a energy community and that's defined as a on a Brownfield site or a community with high fossil fuel employment or a closed Coal Fired power plant that is again a 10% Adder again that 30% goes to 40% um but and there's more uh additional adders and so and these adders stack on top of one another so that 30% could go to 40% could go to 50% even 60 or 70% in the right scenarios um so uh so so this tax credit's been available for businesses for a long time Farms businesses but what about nonprofits are non- tax paying entities cities counties schools the food shelf the tax Catholic Church don't pay taxes have not uh been able to tap into the tax credit so the inflation reduction act put in place what's called elective pay it's also called direct pay they mean you'll see both they mean the same thing elective pay and or direct pay and that is a direct payment from Uncle Sam to that non-t taxpaying entity uh for doing these types of renewable energy projects could be solar could be wind geothermal uh combined heat and power things of that nature uh it's a direct payment from Uncle Sam for again minimum 30% but potentially much more with these adders that's very exciting that's really a game Cher for these non- taxpaying entities we would love to hear what you think uh about uh about these types of webinars about the community community energy Ambassador uh program and gosh we really love to track uh what you've been up to how how have you as um as ambassadors been able to uh uh utilize this information that we're sharing and so um we've got uh what we call a zlink a little handy dandy link that um uh that you can utilize and will be sharing these slides um so uh you can you can use that and uh hold up your phone and um and we've got that QR code that'll take you to this um place where you can provide this webinar feedback and um and certification certification love that term um tracking for forun Community energy ambassadors and that's me gosh if you have any uh questions about this um ask away now for certain but um if uh something comes to mind at a later date uh please send your questions my way and we have a a lot of great information online as well as on on our website which this QR code will take you right there and uh and so check that out as well I'm gonna stop sharing my screen so I can see your smiling faces and uh and yeah happy to answer any questions that you may have or at least take a crack at it we do have some questions in the chat some of which I think you've already answered but even so I'll go ahead and ask him if that's okay um 3kw in capacity did did you mean there's a minimum of 3kw in order to apply I for the solar storage yeah that's the maximum size of the solar storage is my understanding then the was a general question about can people find these programs right now I know you talked about a lot of things maybe just a reminder of what is ready to go and what is coming online soon yeah uh so yeah thanks and I should have made a point of that uh the tax credits available right now that energy efficient tax credit available right now the solar tax credit available right now uh and um and the the homes and here rebate um coming in 2025 thanks Laura who I'm pretty sure I met recently who works for the Department of Commerce thanks Laura uh said just real quick qualifying thing that um while the Commerce program started in August the Excel managed battery St program hasn't been rolled out yet so very good very helpful thank you someone asks can the rebates be paid directly to installers versus reimbursed after after the purchase Oh the rebates um my understanding will be point of sale rebates I should have made that point as well so you go to uh your local hardware store or appliance store and you qualify for the rebates um it should be a point of sale uh rebate and if Laura from the Department of Commerce if feel free to uh take yourself off mute if you have additional information on on any of these things not to put you on the spot or anything and then qu suggestion about homes and here rates whether or not they can be combined with each other they cannot two separate things those are the um if people have other questions they're welcome to put them in the chat um you can unmute also another question for people that are using tax credits and tax deductions can all of these or just some be used over multiple years for larger projects uh um oh gosh uh I know that they're non-refundable we'll say that so if you have a if you have a, tax credit but you only owe $600 to the feds for example um uh you're not going to get a check for $400 you your liability will be dropped to zero um the carry forward I um I'd have to get back to you on that I don't think so um but uh so solar solar and storage yeah I was just thinking that solar and storage can be rolled over um thank you Tim yeah um but Tim do you know about the Energy Efficiency I'm a little I'm not I'm not sure the Energy Efficiency one can sounds like no the Energy Efficiency one cannot okay there we go Energy Efficiency no rollover solar two thumbs up another very specific question does a heat pump dryer with a front load washer qualify uh I imagine so um a great resource for all things heat pump related is the um it's called yeah there the collaborative air source heat pump collaborative shayon may have just dropped it into the into the chat there and uh boy any sort of heat pump related questions links to installers um tax related information that's a great source of of info air source heat pump collaborative I have a question regarding the funding is the are the tax credits for your income in 25 or would it be for 24 and who determines your income at point of sale as to whether you pay you know 50% or 20% well I think on the latter part l l question I think that's what the State Department of Commerce is uh coming up with right as we speak is how do they know uh if you go to Home Depot and you buy that um water heater how how do they know at the uh point of sale that what your income is and um so I'm I don't have an answer for that I'm not sure anybody has an exact answer on that quite yet [Music] um yeah um so that's a work in progress um and then your first question was tax credit in is it income for 2024 or 2025 I'm not sure I fully understand you mind uh saying that again yes if I um do my taxes for 2 4 and then I buy a a heat pump in 25 is is the income based on my 24 or do I have to wait to find out what my 25 income is because my income varies so so I the question is on what annual income are the tax rebates based on I I imagine it'd be your last annual income if I'm understanding that that question correctly yes I um I need to know I I was hoping that the the tax credits would be available in 24 so I could use my 23 income but if they're not available till 25 I don't know what my 24 income would will be we have another question too is there a place to look at how Property Owners can create a strategy to get multiple projects done for example wiring plus insulation plus doors and windows all at the same time while all of the contractors are on the job and maximize the funding help with these programs boy um I am not positive uh actually I'll I'll call out shayin are are you aware shayen of any sort of onetop shop for um for something like that maybe maybe rewiring America would be be a good um a good spot to go rewiring America is a good spot to they have a lot of workbooks that you can download um one thing that that we've been working on we have a home energy guide web page that is um undergoing a if you will but for the time being we have a chart um it's like a little lower down on the page and it just kind of talks through like you know kind of do an inventory of what's in your home like kind of like just track like how will like do you have a hot water heater when did you buy it or when was it installed and like what's the average age for hot water heaters there's we have links to where you can find all that out and then you can kind of put together this big plan of like when your you'll need to do upgrades so that you can you know money set aside and save you can do your research and figure out what you need to do um and then other than that it's really like looking at our I think our guide to the inflation reduction act which Pete has linked to a lot in our in his presentation we try to really like organize the the clean energy incentives that are available by how somebody would um like qualify for them like if you're a resident versus a business versus um a non- taxpaying entity and so you can just kind of look through and um we would love to create a really great planning tool for you and and hopefully we'll have time to do something but um I think just look at your highest priority projects and then figure out how to map it out but I think I'm gonna stop rambling I'm starting to ramble now um I think uh rearing America has some good guides um also Pete since since I was pulled out of my nonv video um I believe there was a little back and forth about the on-site storage um maximum or minimum capacity and I was looking it up and Tim was right it's a minimum of three kilowatt hours thank you so clation um but yeah signing off today's word for the day is shayen how do you spell how do you spell she even put it in the chat my goodness at that that looks like a good Wordle word Tim had another good point which was that there are annual limits on the tax credits as you mentioned Pete and so therefore you wouldn't want to do them all at once plus the rebates are probably going to run out quick uh seems like a fair thing to um to say any other questions people can add in the chat or unmute themselves hopefully the fact that they run out quick is a good indicator to legislators that they should be refunded and anuka put in the chat thank you anuka uh rewiring America's website for personal electrification planner the precise little link there so thank you and of course if you get an energy audit for your home that is a plan in and of itself on on what you need to be doing in your own home or what you can be doing well if there aren't any more questions we uh just a reminder we would love to get your thoughts so I'm going to once again put in the little Chatters as I like to say um a link to the survey please let us know what you thought and again a reminder it's going to ask you which webinar you attended this is paying for your project um and then you can get access to more webinars like this um through our website and again this is part of our series uh for C's Community energy ambassadors so Pete any last words of wisdom before we part today well thank you very much again now get out there help us spread the word about all these great opportunities and uh again don't be a stranger and U uh uh really emphasize the the tracking part of this we really do uh like to know how these tools are used across the state and don't don't hesitate to reach out at any time thanks so much for being here everyone byebye have a great day
