ONTARIO, N.Y. (WROC) — In 2022 the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law. Some provisions will take months or even years for the impact to be felt in your wallet. That is unless you plan on installing solar in your home or business this year, or even the next decade and beyond.

For the next decade from 2023 to 2032, homeowners and businesses can write off 30% of the cost of new solar installations on their federal taxes. In 2033, that percentage will drop to 26%, and then to 22% in 2034, after which it will expire if not extended. In New York too, that’s not the only way you can subsidize the cost of installing solar power according to Kevin Schulte, the CEO of GreenSpark Solar.

“In New York, we have state grants under the New York Sun program. We have a state tax credit available and then you add that with the federal tax credits that are now available under the inflation reduction act and you can actually get […] 60 or more percent of your solar system paid for by grants and incentives,” said Schulte.

According to Schulte this is one of the longest extensions of federal tax incentives in recent memory. Previous extensions have been in the range of one to three years, compared to the most recent decade-long extension. This doesn’t just help you as the consumer but it also helps the solar industry as a whole chart a path forward.

“The fact that our industry now understands its horizons for 10 years allows a different form of capital to come in behind the renewable energy industry which allows for long-term growth the same way that the fossil fuels industry has benefited from long-term government policies since… [the] 1920s,” said Schulte.

With a clear path ahead of them it opens the door to having a greater impact on the economy. One that Schulte thinks will help Rochester continue to succeed, including bringing new jobs to the area in a growing industry. But also to provide the training and development to see new hires succeed and grow.

“GreenSpark will grow dramatically over the next decade we’re currently sitting at around 100 people. We think […] over the next couple years we’ll double and triple that number of people and the nice part about it is we’ll be doing that with high quality, well-paying, purposeful jobs for people here in Rochester,” said Schulte.