Starting, running, and maintaining your own business can be more than a little challenging.  2020 in particular has been a very trying year for business owners.  While it might be tempting and in some cases crucial to focus on just staying afloat at the moment, putting out the fires as and when they threaten to appear, it’s crucial to plan for the future of your business and be fully prepared for what will come next.

As business owners, we have the following generations in mind, especially our children. We want to see them better off than we were, whether that’s more financial stability, a better education, or with wisdom we wish we had at their age.

For family-owned businesses this rings true on many levels. You want to hand off the next generation an efficient, stable, and profitable livelihood. But operating costs are on the rise and the future always uncertain. It’s seemingly impossible to anticipate what new hurdles the next generation will face, or what tools they’ll need to overcome these challenges.

Regardless of what the world looks like in a couple of decades, one thing will stand true: reducing operating costs will always help a business be profitable as long as it doesn’t diminish efficiency or quality. With solar energy, you can do just that. Investing in a solar system today will let you hand down your business with one less monthly bill and with an asset that raises the property value as well as your brand equity.

A solar system can bring your business both short-term and long-term economic benefits, all while curbing its carbon footprint and increasing your independence from the utility company.

If you choose to invest in solar, you won’t only be doing the next generation a favor. You could be helping yourself out right now. While solar energy offers a substantial amount of benefits for your business or farm in the long run, it has short-term benefits as well.

No Electric Bill

One of the easiest ways to increase your profit is to shave down your operating costs. However, you need to be sure you’re not doing so at the expense of your products’ or services’ quality.
A great way to knock down your operating expenses is to get control of your electric bill. Solar energy helps you do this by generating free electricity. Depending on the size of the system you install, you could produce up to 100% of your operation’s electricity usage. And keep in mind that what you pay per kilowatt now is likely going to be much less than what you would pay in a few decades. Between 2005 and 2015, electricity prices increased by 34%. The next generation will be faced with electric bills much higher than what you pay today. A solar system offers protection from rising rates and gives you control over a fixed cost.

Stay Competitive

As early adopters pull ahead of the competition, like Target, Walmart, and Apple many companies are exploring solar power as a way to keep up. 

Increasing Your Property Value

A solar system is an asset to your business. After all, a property that can produce its own electricity for free is going to be more desirable to potential buyers than one with a huge electricity bill.
Studies have shown that a solar system can increase a commercial property’s value by 9.6%. This amount will vary depending on your state and utility’s regulations for solar energy, as well as the type of equipment that makes up your system. Regardless, the system will add value to the business or farm should the next generation need to sell or relocate.

Tax-Saving Incentives in Year One

Installing solar is a great way to reduce the amount of taxes you’ll pay in the first year of your system. From the Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) from the federal government to accelerated depreciation to any local incentives, you can recapture a large portion of the installation cost in tax savings the year the system is installed.
In 2020, the solar ITC allows businesses and farms that install a solar system they own (as opposed to a lease or PPA) for just 74% of the system’s cost. This means you’ll receive a credit on your taxes worth 26% of the cost of the solar system installation. This credit can be applied to your taxes the year it was installed, or it can be spaced out over the next 20 years until the whole credit is used.
Additionally, many businesses that install solar are eligible for accelerated depreciation, meaning you can take all the tax-saving depreciation benefits from the solar system in the first year your solar system is installed. 
Both the solar ITC and accelerated depreciation can reduce the cost of installing solar by a substantial amount, meaning your system can reach payback in just a few years, depending on the size of your system and the amount of electricity your business or farm uses.
We’ve installed solar systems for businesses and farms that reach payback in under four years, easily leaving decades left in the solar system’s lifespan to generate 100% free electricity.

Consumers Appreciate Green Businesses

Businesses who install solar are making a statement to their employees and customers that they care about sustainable business methods. And employees and customers hear that, appreciate that, and are willing to show it with their wallet.
A recent study by Neilson found that customers under 40 are willing to pay more for services or products sold by companies that use green practices. Additionally, employees enjoy working for a company that does right by the environment.

Return on Investment

Yes, it will cost money for the solar panels and to have them installed, but the ability to produce your own energy creates an exciting outcome for home owners and businesses.  Once installed, the panels begin to create energy and eventually (7 to 8 years average) the production of energy will exceed the cost of the panels leaving you with a return on your investment.  The average return is about 20%.  You can get a more detailed number and timeline by reaching out to someone about your specific business.