Going solar: Webinar to cover grants and financing opportunities

Minnesota –Nonprofit group Solar United Neighbors will host a free online webinar about the grants and financing available to help farms and rural businesses install solar.

The webinar will be held on May 19 at 6:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Attendees will learn about federal incentives to go solar, as well as statewide and local incentives such as the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) and Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing.

Presenting on the webinar are Fritz Ebinger, rural energy development program manager for the Clean Energy Resource Team, and Autumn Long, regional field director for Solar United Neighbors.

“At Solar United Neighbors, we work to make solar accessible to everyone,” said Long. “A big part of that is sharing our knowledge about the grants and financing available to people and helping them to navigate these programs.”

The federal tax benefit for going solar is called the investment tax credit (ITC). Currently, the ITC covers 26% of the cost of solar installations on businesses. This amount decreases to 22% in 2021 and then to 10% after that.

“With the ITC decreasing, it just makes sense to go solar sooner than later,” said Bobby King, Minnesota program director for Solar United Neighbors. “We’re here to help people navigate the process however we can. And for folks in southeast Minnesota, we just launched the Driftless Area Solar Co-op for folks to learn with their neighbors and get a group rate on installs.”

Register online for the May 19 webinar or contact Bobby King at 507-450-7258 or bking@solarunitedneighbors.org. Online registration is on the “Events” tab at www.solarunitedneighbors.org/driftless.

Learn more and sign up for the Driftless Area Solar Co-op at the same address.