Tesla (TSLA) pushes solar power before tax credit drops at the end of the year

Tesla (TSLA) is pushing its solar power products before the federal tax credit drops at the end of the year.

But it’s a little more complicated than that.

Over the last year, Tesla has completely revamped its solar business with new solar panels and lower prices.

The idea was to turn things around after solar deployment kept falling following the acquisition of SolarCity, but we haven’t seen any result in the numbers until last quarter.

Tesla went from a record low of just 27 MW of solar deployment in Q2 to 57 MW last quarter.

Now Tesla is pushing its solar panels on Twitter, urging people to buy before the federal tax credit for solar power to drop at the end of the year:

The federal government used to offer a 30% tax credit for solar installations in order to accelerate solar adoption in the country.

The program is set to phase out until 2022. It was reduced to 26% last year, and now it will reduce to 22% at the end of the year.

However, homeowners would need to have their installation done in time to take advantage of that extra 4%, and time is running out with less than two months in the quarter.

Tesla’s installation time can vary greatly per market and size of the installation. Once it gets started, it can be pretty quick. We have seen Tesla install a solar panel system in a single day, but it can take a while to get a Tesla installation crew to your house.

Electrek’s Take

There’s also the question of the new US administration. Joe Biden’s team has mentioned pressing the restart button on solar incentives, but there are still a lot of variables to consider in order for that to happen.

It may be something that buyers should weigh up when thinking about buying a solar installation, but I would operate based on the current tax code to be safe.

If you want to buy a new Tesla solar panel installation for your house, you can use our code (frederic5610) for a $100 award after activation of the system.

However, we suggest getting quotes from more than one installer to make sure you get the best energy solution for your place. UnderstandSolar is a great free service to link you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates for free.

Tesla also now offers price matching for solar panels, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes.

Also, price matching aside, if they can install your system sooner, it might be worth going with another installer to get that 4%. Many of them also install Tesla Powerwalls now, too.