Emergency power outages imposed by utilities in high fire prone areas during periods of high winds and low humidity as well as other disaster areas can be a major inconvenience especially for those that work from home. The answer may be a solar charged battery.
Homeowners who already have a solar installation can add a storage battery and qualify for the solar credit for the cost of the battery. Those who do not already have a solar system may want to consider the cost of installing a solar system with a battery. Although not specifically mentioned in the code or regulations it was the subject of a letter ruling.
A battery attached to solar panels is qualified solar electric property if it’s charged only by solar energy. A software-management tool is qualified solar electric property where the software is necessary to monitor the charging and discharging of solar energy from a battery attached to solar panels. Earlier installations of qualifying property don’t affect the availability of the solar credit for qualifying property in later years. Thus, where a qualifying solar panel system was installed in Year 1, an additional solar credit could be claimed in Year 2 for the installation of a battery that was connected to the system and was qualified solar electric property. (IRS Letter Ruling 201809003)