Rocknoll Energy Systems is here to help you navigate the available incentives to help reduce your cost as much as possible in your search towards energy independence.

Grants

Grants are a form of non-repayable funds that can be used to help pay for your project costs. They have a competitive application process. These applications will typically require several forms of site documentation as well as plans and other technical assessments made for the project. There is also usually a longer turnaround time on funds, sometimes upwards of 6 months to a year. Rocknoll Energy is available to you for the application process as a service.

Financing

As an Approved Contractor of the National Energy Improvement Fund (NEIF), the nation’s only Certified B Corp and US Department of Energy Home Improvement Expert lender, we offer transparent and trusted payment options to help our customers “Go Greener, Affordably.”

Rocknoll Energy also offers financing solutions for Commercial, Industrial and Municipal Energy Improvements through NEIF.

Tax Credit

The federal government offers an investment tax credit (ITC) for solar, battery storage, wind and biomass. The tax credit is 30% through the end of 2025 for residential installs with commercial installs having until July 2026 to start the process. The ITC can be applied in the first year and/or rolled over to the following year(s).Commercial entities can also take advantage of bonus depreciation to achieve a quicker ROI. Click here for a deeper dive into the tax incentives currently available.

In the context of the commercial clean energy Investment Tax Credit (ITC), safe harbor is a rule that gives developers certainty. Instead of having to prove, years later, that they continuously worked on a project, the IRS automatically treats the continuity requirement as satisfied if the project meets certain timing rules. (IRS)

There are actually two different “safe harbors” that are often confused:

Beginning of Construction (5% Safe Harbor)
- Historically, a project could establish that construction had begun by incurring at least 5% of the total project cost before the deadline, rather than starting physical construction.
- For large solar and wind projects, this rule has been the subject of significant IRS guidance and litigation, so its availability has changed over time. (McGuireWoods)
Continuity Safe Harbor
- Once a project has legitimately begun construction, the IRS requires that work continue toward completion.
- Rather than examining every delay or construction activity, the IRS provides a Continuity Safe Harbor: if the project is placed in service by the end of the fourth calendar year after the year construction began, continuity is automatically presumed. (IRS)

Example

Suppose a commercial solar project:

Begins qualifying construction on June 20, 2026.
Meets the IRS beginning-of-construction requirements.

The Continuity Safe Harbor means the project generally has until December 31, 2030 (the end of the fourth calendar year after 2026) to be placed in service, and the IRS will not question whether the developer maintained continuous progress. (SEIA)

Why July 4, 2026 matters

Under the current wind and solar transition rules:

Projects that begin construction on or before July 4, 2026 can generally rely on the Continuity Safe Harbor and complete the project within the applicable four-year period. (MSPC CPA & Advisors)
Projects that begin construction after July 4, 2026 generally cannot rely on that transition treatment. Instead, they generally must be placed in service by December 31, 2027 to remain eligible for the credit, leaving much less room for construction delays. (McGuireWoods)

The practical benefit of the Continuity Safe Harbor is certainty. If you qualify for it, you don’t need to document and defend every construction delay or prove continuous work over several years—the IRS presumes you’ve met that requirement as long as you finish within the safe harbor period.

Yes. For projects that remain eligible for the commercial ITC/PTC, the 10% bonus credits for domestic content and energy communities are still available. The July 2025 legislation did not eliminate these bonus adders; it primarily changed which projects qualify for the underlying credit and imposed new timing and foreign entity restrictions. (RSM US)

Here’s how they work:

Domestic Content Bonus (+10 percentage points for most qualifying ITC projects):
- If your project satisfies the domestic content requirements (U.S.-made steel, iron, and sufficient U.S.-manufactured products) and meets the prevailing wage and apprenticeship rules where applicable, you can generally add 10 percentage points to the ITC. The IRS continues to provide guidance and certification procedures for claiming this bonus. (IRS)
Energy Community Bonus (+10 percentage points):
- Projects located in a qualifying energy community remain eligible for a 10 percentage point increase to the ITC. The legislation even expanded the definition in some respects by adding certain nuclear-related communities. (RSM US)

Example

For a commercial solar project that is otherwise eligible for the 30% ITC:

Base ITC: 30%
Domestic content bonus: +10%
Energy community bonus: +10%

Potential total ITC: 50%

However, you only get those adders if the project first qualifies for the underlying ITC. That’s the critical point after the recent law changes.

For solar and wind, the timing rules now matter much more:

Projects that began construction before July 5, 2026 generally preserve the ability to complete later under the transition rules.
Projects that missed that construction-start deadline generally must satisfy the new placed-in-service requirements (typically by the end of 2027) to remain eligible for the ITC at all. If the project isn’t eligible for the base credit, there is no bonus to add. (Steptoe)

Grants, Financing and Tax incentives

Grants

Financing

Tax Credit

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