In Pennsylvania, New Jersey and all around the U.S., residential and commercial solar energy installations are booming. Homeowners and big chain retailers alike are getting the recognition they deserve for taking a leap into the future. For many local and small businesses, moving to solar can be just as rewarding as it is for those big conglomerates, if not even more.
An investment in solar gives the buyer predictable and lower electricity bills from the first month and for month after month, across decades. In 2019, incentives enhance these savings from offsetting utility supplied power – and for businesses those include an instrumental 30% federal tax credit and the use of an accelerated depreciation tax benefit for the total expense.
Consider also that solar systems generate power every day, varying only by how much direct and indirect sunlight is available. For many small businesses that operate during normal work hours and may even close 1 or 2 days a week, designing to minimize utility purchased power is even easier.
The sum of these important savings can be key to survival, where owners have to tightly control operating costs and carefully invest as needed to deliver the best of the products and services they are offering.
Beyond these beneficial impacts on a business’ cash flow, a solar investment can be vital to striking the right balance between sustainability and profitability, which has become front-of-mind for consumers and more important than ever before. A growing number of firms are finding their customers choose to transact with companies that are buying local when possible, are proactive about their environmental impact, and are promoting greener products where appropriate.
More businesses are installing and announcing their use of solar energy to great reception by their customers- even showcasing periodic energy production and the company’s positive greenhouse gas reduction and smaller carbon footprint.
While investing to expand may at times be the best way to leverage profits, buying a solar energy system should also be considered as it will free up significant cash for operations and further investments and replace an ever-growing utility cost with a fixed, locked-in cost.
In the Philadelphia area, 2019 is a critical year to maximize the returns on that purchase to take advantage of the federal 30% tax credit before it drops to 26% on January 1, 2020.