NYSERDA Solar Incentives in 2026: What’s Still Available

Two different questions bring people to this page: what can NYSERDA and New York actually still give you toward solar in 2026, and are the “free solar panels” ads you’re seeing in NYC for real. The short version: the federal 30% tax credit that used to apply when you bought or financed a home solar system ended for systems whose installation was completed after December 31, 2025, with no phase-down. “Free solar panels” isn’t literal anywhere in New York, including the five boroughs — it’s marketing language for a $0-down lease. But NYSERDA, New York State, and New York City all still run real programs, and community solar comes close to an actual no-cost option for renters and condo owners who can’t put panels on their own roof.

What’s left is still worth knowing about: a state tax credit, a sales tax exemption, a property tax exemption, an NYC-only property tax abatement, and community solar. NYSERDA’s NY-Sun rebate is the exception: as of September 2026 NYSERDA has no open NY-Sun block for homes in any utility territory. Here’s what actually still applies in New York, where NY-Sun stands for homes in each region, and what to verify before you sign a contract.

What Changed for New York Solar Buyers in 2026

Under the tax and spending law signed in July 2025 (widely referred to as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act), the federal residential clean energy credit was repealed for expenditures made after December 31, 2025. Previously this credit covered 30% of the cost of a purchased or loan-financed home solar system. There is no partial credit and no transition period for owners in 2026.

The date that decides your position is not the one most summaries name. Section 25D treats an expenditure as made when the original installation is completed, not when the utility energises the system, so an installation finished in the final days of December 2025 and switched on in the new year still falls under the old rules. If your project straddles that boundary, keep the contractor’s completion sign-off, the final invoice, the permit close-out and the inspection certificate, and put the question to a tax professional with those dates in hand.

There is one narrow exception. Solar leases and power purchase agreements (PPAs) are structured so that the leasing company, not the homeowner, owns the system — and a separate commercial credit for that company remains available through 2027 for projects that begin construction by a mid-2026 deadline. Whether that saving is actually passed through to your monthly payment depends on the provider. Ask directly whether their quoted price already reflects it; do not assume it does.

The New York State Solar Tax Credit Is Still Here

New York’s own solar tax credit did not go anywhere. It’s worth 25% of your eligible solar costs, up to a $5,000 maximum, and it reduces what you owe in state income tax. Unlike the old federal credit, New York’s version has historically been available to both system owners and lease/PPA customers, so it’s worth asking your installer whether your specific contract qualifies.

If the credit is larger than your tax liability in a given year, you can carry the unused portion forward for up to five years. It’s claimed on state tax form IT-255. A bill in the state legislature (S2626) would raise the dollar cap from $5,000 to $10,000 and make the credit refundable for lower-income filers whose credit exceeds what they owe — it does not propose changing the 25% rate itself. As of this writing it remains in committee and has not been enacted, so confirm the current-year rate and cap with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance or your tax preparer before you file.

New York’s Sales and Property Tax Breaks

Two more state-level breaks apply on top of the income tax credit:

• Sales tax exemption. Residential solar equipment and its installation are exempt from the 4% New York State sales tax and the 3/8% MCTD tax; local sales tax is exempt only where the county or city has adopted the exemption (Publication 718-S lists those that still charge it; New York City does not). Homeowners claim it by giving the installer Form ST-121, Exempt Use Certificate. An installer’s quote is normally before tax, so the exemption means no tax is added, not a deduction from the quoted price.
• Property tax exemption (RPTL §487). Adding solar typically increases your home’s assessed value, and this law exempts that added value from property tax for 15 years from installation. Two catches: a county, city, town or village can opt out by local law, and a school district by resolution, so it is not guaranteed everywhere in the state; and it is not automatic, because you must file form RP-487 with your assessor by the taxable status date (March 1 in most towns; January 2 in Nassau towns; set by charter in cities), and the system must be built before January 1, 2030 (RP-487 instructions). Confirm with your local assessor’s office before assuming it applies to your address.

NYSERDA’s NY-Sun Rebate in 2026: No Open Block for Homes, by Region

NY-Sun is NYSERDA’s upfront rebate program, run on a “megawatt block” structure: each region gets an allocation of rebate funding, and once a block fills up with enough installed solar, the rebate rate drops for the next block. It has been running for years, and every block for homes has now closed, including the income-qualified ones.

Standard-income residential blocks have closed in both the Con Edison territory and the Upstate region, and Long Island’s residential blocks closed years earlier. The income-qualified Affordable Solar Residential Incentive ($0.80 per watt) has closed as well: in Con Edison territory it ran from May 30 to October 15, 2025, and Upstate from December 18, 2025 to March 9, 2026. On Long Island, where it is $0.40 per watt and not tied to a block, NYSERDA’s April 2026 NY-Sun Program Manual still lists it: a participating NY-Sun contractor claims it and must pass it on in your contract, so ask the contractor to confirm funding is still available. As of September 2026 NYSERDA has no open NY-Sun block for homes in any utility territory; check NYSERDA’s NY-Sun dashboard for a new one. Reading NYSERDA’s own block charts directly, the last residential blocks were:

These dates come from NYSERDA’s Con Edison, Upstate and Long Island block charts. NYSERDA publishes block charts for only those three regions — the Upstate chart is labelled “Rest of State” and covers the territories outside Con Edison and Long Island, including NYSEG, RG&E, Central Hudson and National Grid — and none of the three shows an open residential block. Check NYSERDA’s NY-Sun dashboard before you sign in case a new block opens.

How Your Solar Credits Show Up on the Bill

Incentives lower what you pay upfront or on your taxes, but the ongoing savings come from how your utility credits the electricity your system sends back to the grid when it produces more than your home is using. In New York, most home-sized residential systems are still credited close to the traditional net metering rate. Larger systems and community solar arrays are compensated instead under the state’s newer Value of Distributed Energy Resources (VDER) framework, often called the “value stack,” which is not a single fixed rate and is calculated differently by utility and location.

Which of the two applies to you, and what the credit is actually worth, depends on your system size, your utility (Con Edison, PSEG Long Island, National Grid, NYSEG, RG&E, or Central Hudson, depending on where you live), and when you interconnect. Ask your installer for a bill-credit estimate specific to your address and utility rather than a general figure, and confirm the crediting mechanism with your utility before you sign a contract.

Are There Really “Free Solar Panels” in New York or NYC?

Not in the literal sense, in any borough. “Free solar panels” is marketing language for a $0-down lease or power purchase agreement: a solar company installs panels on your roof at no upfront cost, and you pay them monthly for the electricity or for use of the system instead. You never own the panels, the payments typically escalate over the contract, and a lease or PPA can complicate or reduce your proceeds when you sell the house. It also matters more in NYC than elsewhere in the state, because most rooftops in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan are on multi-family buildings, co-ops, or condos, where a lease or PPA typically requires the building’s board or landlord to agree before anyone can put panels on the roof at all — something a single-family homeowner in Staten Island or the suburbs doesn’t have to negotiate. A full breakdown of the four commercial structures behind “free solar” ads is in the guide to free solar panels in New York.

If a $0-down deal is what appeals to you and you do own the roof outright, a zero-down solar loan gets you the same lack of upfront cost while you still own the system — which means you also keep the state tax credit, the sales tax exemption, and the property tax exemption described above. Those don’t apply to a leased system in the same way, and unlike the state credit, they’re not something a leasing company can pass through to you.

Community Solar: The Actual No-Cost Option, Especially in NYC

If what you’re really looking for is savings without installing anything on your own roof — which is often the real intent behind a “free solar panels” search, especially from renters and condo owners in NYC who have no roof to put panels on in the first place — community solar is the program that matches that description honestly.

You subscribe to a share of a solar array built somewhere else in your utility territory, and your share of its output shows up as a credit on your regular electric bill. There’s no equipment on your property, no roof requirement, no landlord or co-op board approval needed, and typically no upfront cost or long-term ownership commitment; most subscriptions can be cancelled. Households enrolled in their utility’s Energy Assistance Program (EAP) also get a monthly community-solar credit through NYSERDA’s Statewide Solar for All, with no upfront cost or fees; enrolment in EAP enrolls you automatically. It won’t replace your entire electric bill, but for an apartment-dwelling New Yorker who searched “free solar panels nyc” hoping for exactly that, it’s the closest real answer available today.

New York City’s Extra Incentive: the Solar Property Tax Abatement

NYC homeowners have one more program layered on top of the state-level breaks: the Solar Electric Generating System (SEGS) property tax abatement, now called the Solar and Electric Storage System abatement. You apply through the NYC Department of Buildings, which determines eligibility and approves the application; the city’s Department of Finance then applies the benefit to your property tax bill. For systems placed in service from January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2034, it is worth 30% of the eligible installation cost or $250,000, whichever is lower, applied over four years (up to $62,500 a year). A property already exempt from all property taxes can’t use it.

Applications must be received by March 15 for the abatement to take effect in that calendar year, so the 2026 deadline has passed. The application is filed through the Department of Buildings together with the building permit application, normally by your installer, so if you install solar in New York City now, ask your installer to confirm it will be filed in time for next year’s cycle, and confirm the current caps and eligible property types with DOB — the rules have been amended more than once since the program launched.

How the Incentives Stack in 2026

Before you sign anything, ask any installer or provider to itemize, in writing, exactly which of these apply to your specific contract and property, and confirm the current dollar figures directly with NYSERDA, the state tax department, or NYC’s Department of Finance — these programs are adjusted more often than most homeowners expect.

Because several of these programs depend on how you pay for the system — cash, loan, lease, or PPA — and, in NYC, on whether you own a roof at all, the same address can qualify for very different combinations of savings depending on which path applies. When you request quotes, ask each installer for a written breakdown of exactly which state and city programs they’ve applied to your price, not just a single “savings” number. For a purchased or loan-financed system, that breakdown should include the state tax credit, the sales tax exemption, and the property tax exemption if your locality hasn’t opted out; a NY-Sun rebate belongs on it only if NYSERDA has opened a new block for homes, and none is open as of September 2026. For a lease or PPA, ask specifically whether the state tax credit is passed through to you, since eligibility rules for that vary by provider and contract. If you don’t own a roof, or the numbers above don’t add up to much for your household, put in the extra few minutes to check community solar options in your utility territory before ruling out solar altogether.

How to Actually Claim These Incentives: A Step-by-Step Checklist

1. Get two or three written quotes and ask each installer to itemize, by name, which incentives their price assumes — the state tax credit, the sales tax exemption, RPTL §487, the NYC SEGS abatement if it applies to you, and a NY-Sun rebate only if NYSERDA has reopened a block for homes.
2. Check NYSERDA’s live incentive dashboard for your specific utility territory before signing anything, since NY-Sun block rates and availability change without much notice.
3. If you’re buying or financing the system, keep the final invoice and installation paperwork — you’ll need it to claim the state credit on Form IT-255 and to support an RPTL 487 application with your local assessor.
4. Call your town, city, or county assessor’s office to confirm they haven’t opted out of the RPTL 487 property tax exemption before assuming it applies to your address.
5. If you’re in NYC, confirm your installer is filing the SEGS abatement application with the Department of Buildings alongside your building permit, and that DOB will receive it by March 15 for the abatement to start that year; confirm the current caps with DOB.
6. If you’re leasing or using a PPA, get it in writing whether the state tax credit, sales tax exemption, and any rebate are already reflected in your quoted payment, since the leasing company can claim some of these instead of you.
7. If you don’t own your home or don’t have roof rights — common in NYC co-ops and condos — check community solar subscription options in your utility territory before ruling out solar altogether.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the NYSERDA solar incentive for New York homeowners in 2026?

NYSERDA doesn't offer one single flat incentive. It runs the NY-Sun incentive, but as of September 2026 NYSERDA has no open NY-Sun block for homes in any utility territory: the standard-income blocks and the income-qualified Affordable Solar blocks have closed, and on Long Island its April 2026 NY-Sun Program Manual still lists the income-qualified Affordable Solar incentive ($0.40 per watt), which is not tied to a block. Its website is also the reference point for verifying the separate state tax credit, sales tax exemption and property tax exemption described above. Check NYSERDA's NY-Sun dashboard for a new block before assuming any rebate.

Is the federal solar tax credit still available in New York in 2026?

No. The 30% residential credit was repealed for expenditures made after December 31, 2025, and the test is when the original installation was completed rather than when the system was switched on — so an installation finished in 2025 but energised in 2026 still falls under the old rules. A separate, narrower credit for solar leasing and PPA companies remains available through 2027 for projects that started construction by a mid-2026 deadline, but whether that savings reaches your monthly payment depends on the provider, so ask directly.

Does New York still have its own solar tax credit, and is it really going up to 40%?

New York offers a state income tax credit worth 25% of eligible solar costs, up to a $5,000 cap, claimed on Form IT-255, and unused credit can be carried forward for up to five years. A bill in the legislature (S2626) would raise the dollar cap to $10,000 and make the credit refundable for some lower-income filers, but it does not propose raising the 25% rate itself, and as of this writing it has not been enacted. Confirm the current rate and cap with the state tax department before filing.

Are "free solar panels" real in New York City?

Not literally, in any borough. The phrase almost always describes a $0-down lease or power purchase agreement, which comes with ongoing monthly payments and no ownership, and in NYC it typically also requires your building's landlord or co-op/condo board to approve rooftop work. Community solar is the closest thing to an actually no-cost option, since it requires no installation, equipment, roof access, or home ownership at all.

Is the NY-Sun rebate still open in my area?

No block is open for homes in any region. Standard-income rebate blocks have closed in the Con Edison, Upstate and Long Island regions, and the income-qualified Affordable Solar blocks have closed too: Con Edison's on October 15, 2025 and Upstate's on March 9, 2026. On Long Island, NYSERDA's April 2026 NY-Sun Program Manual still lists the income-qualified Affordable Solar incentive ($0.40 per watt), which is not tied to a block; ask a participating NY-Sun contractor whether funding remains. As of September 2026 NYSERDA has no open NY-Sun block for homes in any utility territory; check NYSERDA's NY-Sun dashboard for a new one.

Can renters or condo owners in New York benefit from solar?

Yes, through community solar. You subscribe to a share of a solar array built elsewhere in your utility territory and receive a credit on your electric bill, with no roof, installation, or ownership required, which makes it accessible to renters, co-op shareholders, and condo owners who can't install their own system.

How does net metering work for solar in New York?

Most home-sized residential systems are still credited close to the traditional net metering rate for the excess electricity they send back to the grid. Larger systems and community solar arrays are compensated under New York's newer VDER "value stack" framework instead, which varies by utility and location rather than a single fixed rate. Ask your installer and utility for a system-specific credit estimate before you sign.

This article is general information, not tax, legal or financial advice. Incentive amounts, eligibility rules and deadlines change and depend on your utility, your tax situation and your property. Confirm current terms with NYSERDA, your utility and a qualified tax professional before making a decision.