Solar financing for Central Valley homes.

What changed in 2026

The 30% federal residential solar tax credit, the ITC, the cornerstone of California solar economics for the last decade, expired at the end of 2025. For homeowners signing solar contracts in 2026, that 30% benefit is no longer available as a personal tax credit. This is a real change to the math and worth taking seriously.

What's still active: the commercial clean energy tax credit (still 30% through 2032 under current law), accelerated commercial depreciation through MACRS, SGIP rebates for battery storage, California's solar property tax exclusion, and the state sales tax exemption on equipment. Full breakdown on our California incentives page.

The structural opportunity here is that the commercial-side incentives, which residential homeowners can't access on their own, can be passed through to homeowners via a specific financing structure. That structure is Propel Financing by Concert Finance, and it's the reason this page exists.

Propel Financing by Concert Finance

Propel is a third-party-owned financing structure where Concert Finance commercially owns the solar system for the first 5 years after installation. During those 5 years, Concert claims the commercial Investment Tax Credit and accelerated depreciation on the system. After year 5, ownership transfers to you.

The mechanism captures roughly $0.30 to $0.40 of tax benefit per dollar of system cost, and Concert passes most of that benefit through to you as an upfront discount on your purchase price. The net effect: a Propel-financed system costs 30 to 40% less than the equivalent cash purchase, and there's no separate tax filing or out-of-pocket credit claim required.

The key Propel features that matter for Central Valley homeowners:

• 30 to 40% upfront discount off the gross system cost (varies by energy community designation)
• No dealer fees baked into the financing, what you see is what you pay
• 25-year fixed payment term with no monthly payment escalator (your payment is the same in year 1 and year 25)
• No prepayment penalty, pay off early at any time without fees
• Up to 3 re-amortizations allowed, apply windfall payments later and your remaining monthly payment recalculates
• Concert handles all tax incentive paperwork, no IRS forms, no documentation, no audit risk

Full technical breakdown of how Propel works is available on the Solar Advisors Propel Financing overview, which goes deeper into the tax structure than we can cover here.

Cash purchase

Cash remains the simplest option. You pay the full system cost upfront, you own the system outright from day one, you have no monthly payment, and you don't need to deal with any financing paperwork. For homeowners who have the liquidity, this is often the cleanest path.

The downside in 2026: cash purchase no longer captures the residential ITC (since it ended) and doesn't capture the commercial-side benefits that Propel does. So a cash buyer pays the full retail price, while a Propel buyer pays the discounted price and rolls the difference into financing. For most homeowners, this means cash purchase no longer produces the lowest 25-year cost.

Cash still makes sense for: homeowners who simply don't want any monthly payment, homeowners with very low system costs (small backyard installations), and homeowners who prioritize zero financial complexity over absolute cost minimization.

Traditional solar loans

Traditional solar loans from banks like Mosaic, Sunlight, or GoodLeap finance the gross system cost (no commercial credit pass-through) and let you make monthly payments. Interest rates typically range from 4% to 9.5% depending on credit and term. Loan terms are usually 15, 20, or 25 years.

The challenge with traditional solar loans in 2026: most have hidden "dealer fees" baked in. The advertised price might be $25,000 with a 6% interest rate, but the actual amount financed is $32,000 because the dealer fee was added to cover the lender's lower headline rate. Always ask for the cash price and the financed price side by side, the difference reveals the dealer fee.

Traditional solar loans can still make sense for: homeowners who want to claim incentives themselves (in cases where state-level incentives still apply), homeowners who prefer a straightforward fixed-rate loan structure without the third-party ownership component of Propel, and homeowners with very strong credit who can qualify for the lowest dealer-fee-free options.

PPA & lease (third-party owned)

Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and solar leases are both third-party-owned structures, similar to Propel in that respect, but with very different economics over 25 years. Under a PPA, you don't own the system, a third party owns it permanently and you pay them a monthly bill for the electricity it produces. Under a lease, you rent the system on a fixed monthly payment.

Critical differences from Propel:

• You never own the system under a PPA or lease, even after 25 years
• Monthly payments escalate 2 to 3% per year (so your year-25 payment is 60 to 80% higher than your year-1 payment)
• System doesn't add to home value because you don't own it (and some buyers won't take on the contract)
• You can't claim any incentives since you don't own the system

Full side-by-side breakdown on our ESA versus ownership page. The short version: PPAs and leases are almost never the best choice for homeowners who plan to stay in their home long-term. They mostly make sense for homeowners who can't qualify for any other financing option but want the immediate monthly savings.

Side-by-side comparison

Here's how the major options compare for a typical 8 kW system in the Central Valley:

Numbers are illustrative and vary by system size, credit, and Energy Community designation. We model exact figures for your specific address during the assessment. The DOE homeowner solar guide covers the general framework, but specific California economics require local modeling.

Common financing questions