Best Solar Companies in Wyoming of January 2024 – MarketWatch

For most homeowners, buying solar panels is a new undertaking and an expensive one. This makes choosing a solar company seem difficult. A good way to feel confident in your choice is to consider a few key factors beforehand.

Wyoming may have just 13 solar panel installation companies in the state, but choosing the correct one can still seem difficult. If you want easy financing or innovative tech like solar shingles, Green Home Systems is the pick. Homeowners looking for a local company can go with The Solar Guys. If you’re looking for experience, some of the best solar panels, and a reputable national brand, SunPower is your best bet.

Before finalizing a solar company, we recommend requesting quotes from multiple solar installers. This can help compare their pricing, warranties, etc.

*Pricing is based on responses to two surveys we conducted in 2023 of 2,000 total homeowners with 8 kilowatt (kW) solar systems as well as pricing information obtained directly from SunPower, Tesla, Palmetto and local providers. Your cost may vary. The Solar Guys was not included in the survey.

• Electricity bill savings: The biggest advantage of solar panels is their ability to save homeowners thousands of dollars by offsetting grid power consumption with clean and free solar power. Solar panel systems can offset up to 100% of a home’s energy consumption, drastically bringing down or even eliminating energy bills.

• Protection against rising power costs: The costs of fossil fuels makes the cost of conventional grid power an up-and-down situation. Events like global conflicts and pandemics affect power rates set by utility companies, while infrastructure upgrades and inflation will also keep bumping kWh rates each year.

But sunlight is not impacted by such variables and will remain predictable and free. Homeowners who turn to solar power can protect themselves from rising power bills.

• Environmental benefits: By offsetting large amounts of grid energy consumption, solar panels not only eliminate the cost of the energy but also carbon dioxide emissions of fossil fuels. A solar power system lasts for nearly three decades and generates thousands of kWh of energy over that period.

By replacing thousands of kWh of polluting energy with clean energy, solar panels have a remarkable positive impact on the environment.

• Improved home value: Thanks to the above-listed benefits of solar panels, home buyers prefer homes with an existing solar power system over homes without solar. This is evident from the increased costs of houses with solar panels. On average, a house with solar panels sells for about 4.1% more than a comparable house without solar.

• Resilience against blackouts: An increased number of extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, floods and fires are causing power outages in several parts of the country. Wyoming residents are no strangers to these outages. In fact, Rocky Mountain Power even applied for a 7.8% cost adjustment, citing “severe weather” as the reason.

Installing a solar+battery system can offer resilience by powering a home even through a blackout.

Wyoming has a low level of financial incentives to switch to solar. This isn’t surprising, considering the state’s vast fossil fuel reserves and the absence of a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). The state doesn’t offer any solar incentives to residents, homeowners still benefit from the federal tax credit.

Federal Incentives

The solar investment tax credit (ITC), simply known as the federal solar tax credit, lets solar panel buyers deduct up to 30% of their system’s purchase cost on their income taxes. The net result is a direct saving of 30% on the system cost, lowering the payback period and increasing the cumulative savings.

Statewide Incentives

Wyoming does not have any state-mandated solar incentives or rebates. The only state-based solar policy in Wyoming that helps residents is net metering. Also known as Net Energy Metering (NEM), it allows solar system owners to send excess power into the grid in exchange for energy credits, which can be used to buy grid energy during the night or on cloudy days.

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