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Solar + Storage Amplifies ROI for Both Homeowners and Renewable Energy Asset Owners

01.08.2025

Energy storage is playing an increasingly significant role in residential solar. While solar has long provided homeowners with inexpensive, clean electricity, many are now also adding batteries to their home solar systems to enjoy geaterf resiliency benefits.

Solar power is an intermittent energy resource — meaning that it only produces electricity when the sun is shining. Solar production times don’t always align with home energy consumption. Solar panels also stop generating power during outages to avoid backfeeding energy onto the grid and jeopardizing lineworker safety. However, with battery storage, solar system owners can store power for later use, and allow panels to continue to operate to provide backup power when the grid is down. Policy changes in some states are also pushing more residents to opt for energy storage.

The resulting flexibility, resiliency and maximized savings from combining batteries with solar enhance system value for property owners while enabling Inception Financial to offer a wider range of renewable energy assets to our clients.

Why Energy Storage Demand is Surging

The U.S. energy storage market is expected to grow 45% in 2024. Major factors include the growing need for renewable energy integration and grid resiliency at the utility level, alongside homeowners’ desire for greater energy independence in response to regulatory and environmental challenges.

Utility rates and tariffs
Take California, for example. Initially, California homeowners who installed solar could earn credits on their electricity bills by selling their utility provider any excess energy that their solar systems generated beyond what they consumed. However, with the introduction of a new billing structure known as net energy metering (NEM) 3.0, California reduced compensation rates by ~75% for residential solar. At the same time, the state’s investor-owned utilities (IOUs) increased their electricity rates by ~25%.

In California and in other states with similar scenarios, residential energy storage systems have stepped in to fill the gap. By storing excess daytime solar energy in batteries, families can avoid using higher-cost grid electricity at night—a process known as energy arbitrage. This practice not only cuts electricity bills, but also eases strain on the grid during peak usage times or extreme weather events.

Utilities also benefit from lower energy demand during peak usage times (such as in the early evening), as well as during extreme heat waves, and cold snaps when HVAC usage spikes.

Power resiliency
Every year, climate disasters affect millions of people and cost billions of dollars. Nearly 30 storms hit Americans in 2023 with floods, hail, tornados, wildfires, hurricanes and more for a record-setting year. Storms also hit hard in 2024, from southern tornado outbreaks in January to September’s Hurricane Helene leaving hundreds of thousands without power in the Midwest and Southeast, followed quickly by Hurricane Milton in Florida.

Cost of Natural Disasters 2023

Of all major U.S. power outages reported from 2000 to 2023, 80% were due to weather-related events, which occurred two times more often over the last decade than in previous years.

weather-related power outages 2000-2023

With growing uncertainty around when the next storm will hit and whether it will cause a loss in grid power, more families are seeking solar and battery backup systems to generate and store their own power – providing the resiliency they need to ensure their safety and well-being.

Doing Well by Doing Good

Inception clients are playing a meaningful role in helping families across the country realize grid independence with cost-effective, reliable power.

We are actively working with our partners to build and develop solar+storage projects for third-party ownership, allowing you to save money on your taxes while contributing to the greater good.

As a solar + storage owner, you can realize maximum tax benefits from the most valuable residential assets currently available. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act locked in a solar investment tax credit (ITC) of 30% of the total asset (project) value and expanded the ITC to include standalone energy storage. The dollar-for-dollar credit for both technologies creates opportunities for even larger equity contributions while eliminating more of the tax dollars you owe. Solar and storage assets also provide federal and state depreciation—a deduction that lowers your gross income to reduce the taxes you’d otherwise have to pay.

Request a consultation with the Inception team to learn more about how to tap into the tax mitigation potential solar+storage projects can offer.