Government Energy Policy, Business and Technology

The Biggest Controversy in Commercial Solar Finance

GreenTech Media: Earlier this year, I published an article analyzing how President Trump’s corporate income tax cut would affect the financial returns of commercial solar PV projects.

I used my company's PV design and sales software to calculate that Trump’s tax cut could range from very positive for cash-financed solar projects (up to 27 percent increase in NPV), to slightly positive for a loan-financed project. I fully expected that solar salespeople would be excited by the results of my analysis.

I was wrong. Comments on the article showed that, while some professionals were enthusiastic about the results of my analysis, others had the opposite reaction; they feared the tax cuts would hurt solar returns.

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