The federal solar tax credit is gone. Here's how to still go solar for $0 down.

What actually changed on January 1

For more than a decade, the deal on residential solar was simple: buy a system, and the federal government handed back 30% of the cost as a tax credit. That was the Section 25D residential credit, and it ended for installations completed after December 31, 2025.

The panels did not get more expensive. A typical system still runs about $2.50 to $3.00 per watt. What changed is who pays for it. A $30,000 system netted a buyer around $21,000 in 2025. That same system is a full $30,000 today. Out of pocket went up roughly 43% overnight, with nothing about the hardware changing. We break the full math down in how much does solar cost.

The credit did not disappear. It moved.

Here is the part most of the panic headlines skipped. Only the homeowner credit went away. A separate provision, Section 48E, still applies to systems that are owned by a third party rather than by you, and it runs through 2027 before it begins to phase down.

When a company owns the equipment on your roof, that company claims the credit. You never buy the system, so you were never the one claiming 25D in the first place. That is why one path lost its incentive overnight and the other did not.

What that makes possible: $0 down

Because the provider owns the system and captures the 48E value, it can install solar and a battery on your home at no upfront cost. There is nothing to buy, nothing to finance, no loan, no interest, and no dealer fee added to a system price. You pay for the energy the system produces, not for the hardware.

With SOLRITE, a qualifying home gets:

• Solar and a properly sized battery installed together, $0 upfront.
• A flat rate on the energy it produces, around 12.9 cents per kWh in Texas, that does not climb the way utility rates do.
• Backup power when the grid goes down, which after the last few Texas winters is the reason a lot of people call in the first place.
• The option to earn from a virtual power plant by letting your battery support the grid at peak times.
• Maintenance and the eventual inverter and battery replacements stay with the owner, not with you in year twelve.

Buying still works. It just costs more now.

None of this means buying a system is a bad idea. If you want to own your equipment outright and you have the cash, ownership is still the cheapest way to own over the long run. It is simply a much heavier lift than it was eighteen months ago: full price, no federal credit, financing at 6% to 10%, and a battery that often costs as much as the solar. For most people the question is no longer "buy or wait," it is "own it, or skip the ownership entirely."

The honest way to decide

The right answer depends on your roof, your usage, and your utility. The fastest way to know is not to shop a dozen quotes against each other, it is to have someone look at your specific home and tell you whether the $0-down path pencils out for you. If you are wondering whether solar is even worth it at all now that the credit is gone, we get into that in is solar still worth it in 2026.

You can see how the no-cost model works on our Solar VPA page, or just tell us about your home and we will give you a straight answer.