What solar incentives and tax credits are available in Nashville and Tennessee?

The primary solar incentive available to Nashville homeowners and small businesses is the 30 percent federal Residential Clean Energy Credit on qualifying solar panels and battery storage. Everything else, NES and Middle Tennessee Electric billing rules, TVA programs, and Tennessee specific items, sits around that federal credit rather than replacing it.

In Middle Tennessee, there is no large statewide “Tennessee solar tax credit” and there is no classic one to one net metering program in TVA territory. That means your financial picture is driven mainly by the federal credit and your actual NES or MTE usage, not by utility rebates or simple retail buyback programs.

Federal Residential Clean Energy Credit for Nashville homeowners

For a homeowner in Nashville, Franklin, Brentwood, Mt Juliet, Bellevue, Gallatin, Donelson, or East Nashville, the starting point is the federal Residential Clean Energy Credit.

According to current IRS guidance, this credit equals 30 percent of the cost of new, qualified clean energy property installed from 2022 through 2032, with a scheduled step down in later years. Solar electric property and eligible battery storage technology for a residence are included in that definition.

The credit is applied on your federal income tax return. It reduces tax owed, and under the current rules any unused portion can usually be carried forward to a future year, but it is not paid out as a cash rebate by NES or Middle Tennessee Electric and it is not a direct check from The Solar Roofers.

When we design a solar or solar plus battery system for a home in Nashville, we treat that 30 percent figure as a planning assumption. For example, if a qualifying solar scope for a Bellevue or Franklin home prices at twenty thousand dollars, your tax professional may be able to apply a federal credit in the six thousand dollar range, depending on your tax liability and carry forward options. The exact number belongs on Form 5695, Residential Energy Credits, which is completed by your CPA or preparer and filed with your return.

How to anchor this in official federal guidance

For accuracy and compliance, your accountant should work from three primary sources:

The IRS “Residential Clean Energy Credit” page, which explains eligibility, the 30 percent rate, covered technologies, and the schedule for future years.

The IRS “Home energy tax credits” page, which places the Residential Clean Energy Credit alongside the home improvement credit and explains how they interact.

The IRS “About Form 5695” page and the current instructions for Form 5695, which show the exact lines used to compute and claim the credit and any carry forward.

Energy Star and the U S Department of Energy also provide plain language summaries of the federal solar and battery credit that many homeowners find easier to read before handing everything to a tax professional.

Our role as The Solar Roofers is to provide clean invoices that separate solar, batteries, roofing, and electrical work, plus as built documentation. Your tax advisor uses those documents alongside the IRS material above to determine what part of the project qualifies and how much credit you can claim in the year of installation.

Tennessee and Nashville specific incentives, where to look

Tennessee does not currently offer a broad, simple statewide solar tax credit comparable to the federal Residential Clean Energy Credit. Incentives in this state tend to be more targeted and often focus on commercial, industrial, or certified green energy production rather than typical residential rooftop systems.

The most reliable public catalog of Tennessee incentives is DSIRE, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency, maintained by the N C Clean Energy Technology Center. DSIRE lists state level programs, utility programs, and certain tax provisions and links them back to the underlying statutes and program pages.

When we work on projects in Franklin, Brentwood, Mt Juliet, Lebanon, La Vergne, Smyrna, or rural counties around Nashville, we recommend that owners and their advisors use DSIRE’s Tennessee pages as a starting point to identify any current incentives that might apply to a specific property type or county. DSIRE also points to Tennessee’s “green energy property” tax assessment language, which is aimed at certified green energy production facilities and has to be interpreted carefully for each site.

Because DSIRE is a reference index and not a tax authority, the information found there still has to be read through the lens of your accountant and, in some cases, your local assessor or attorney.

Commercial and rural incentives in Middle Tennessee

Businesses, churches, industrial facilities, and farms around Nashville have a broader set of tools, but they are also more technical. In Franklin, Brentwood, Mt Juliet, La Vergne, Lebanon, and surrounding areas, commercial projects often combine three elements:

The same basic federal clean energy credit at 30 percent, applied under the commercial energy property rules rather than the residential rules.

Depreciation, including MACRS and any current bonus depreciation allowances, which can allow the cost of solar and storage assets to be written down more quickly on the business’s books.

Selective grant and loan programs for rural and agricultural energy projects, which appear periodically in DSIRE and on federal program pages, and are usually tied to specific eligibility criteria and application windows.

On these projects our job is to clearly separate roof work, solar and battery scopes, and electrical upgrades, and to provide stamped drawings and cost breakdowns. The tax and grant analysis is handled by the client’s CPA, controller, lender, or outside consulting firm, using the IRS and program documents that apply.

TVA, NES, and MTE, policy context rather than direct “incentive”

Most of the Nashville region is served by NES, Middle Tennessee Electric, or a local co op under TVA. TVA has retired its legacy Green Power Providers program and does not offer broad one to one retail net metering for residential rooftop solar. Current TVA policy focuses on safe interconnection, technical standards, and a range of utility scale and wholesale focused programs.

For a homeowner in East Nashville, Donelson, Franklin, Brentwood, Mt Juliet, Bellevue, or Gallatin, this means that “incentives” from the utility side are indirect. Solar primarily lowers your NES or MTE bill by reducing the number of kilowatt hours you purchase over the year, not by generating large retail credits for exported energy. Export programs, where they exist, generally resemble wholesale style arrangements more than classic net metering and are not the main driver for residential economics.

We design every residential system around that reality, self consumption first, and treat federal tax credits and any commercial or rural programs as the main formal incentives.

How The Solar Roofers handle incentives in your project

In our process, incentives are part of the planning, but they never replace basic engineering. For a home or small business in Nashville or Middle Tennessee, we first check roof age and structure, shade, and NES or MTE usage. We then design a roof, solar, and storage package that makes sense on its own terms, independent of any credit.

Once the technical design is defined, we price the project in clear sections. Roofing, solar equipment and installation, battery equipment and installation, and electrical upgrades are shown separately. That structure is deliberate. It gives your CPA the information needed to distinguish between qualified clean energy property and other building work when preparing Form 5695 or the relevant business energy schedules.

At that point we expect you to bring your accountant into the conversation. They should read the current IRS material on the Residential Clean Energy Credit and, for commercial or rural projects, the current business energy and depreciation guidance, and then tell you what credit or deduction you can actually claim based on your income and filing status. If they have technical questions about what was installed or how costs were allocated between roof and solar, we answer those from the construction side.

Only after that discussion do you commit to a final contract. That way the engineering, the construction price, and the tax treatment are aligned before crews set foot on your roof.

Important note about tax advice

The Solar Roofers and The Metal Roofers do not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. Any tax credit, depreciation, grant, or incentive examples discussed here are general in nature and are based on publicly available IRS, DOE, and DSIRE summaries that may change over time.

Homeowners and businesses in Nashville and Middle Tennessee should consult their own CPA, tax preparer, or other qualified advisor to confirm current rules, eligibility, and the exact amount of any credit or deduction before making financial decisions. Our role is to design and build systems that work in this region and to provide clear documentation. Your advisor’s role is to interpret tax law for your specific situation.

‍