EnergySage, an online shopping tool that allows users to get quotes for solar, storage and heat pumps, reported a 59% month-over-month increase in registrations from June to July.

“We have seen some of our biggest weekly registration numbers in our entire history,” said Emily Walker, director of content and insights at EnergySage. “That’s very indicative of huge spikes in demand.”

She and others in the industry attribute the recent demand to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which phases out the Clean Electricity Production Tax Credit and Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, ending a 30% residential tax credit for homeowners to install solar nearly 10 years early.

EnergySage conducted a survey of contractors, in which more than 90% said the end of the tax credits would harm their business. One in four said they would consider leaving the industry altogether if the credits were cut.

According to an annual solar jobs census conducted by the nonprofit Interstate Renewable Energy Council, the U.S. solar industry employed about 280,000 workers in 2023, the most recent data available.

NECA’s Government Affairs team highlighted some important information about the situation: projects can still qualify during a “Safe Harbor” if they start before July 5, 2026, or are placed in service by Dec. 31, 2027.

A project is considered to have “begun construction” if 5% of upfront costs were spent or measurable physical work was done, known as the Physical Work Test. Under current Treasury Department rules, updated guidance states that for 45Y or 48E credits, recipients must show significant physical work, on-site or off-site.

• Off-site work of a significant nature may include the manufacture of components such as wind turbines and tower units, transformers, other power conditioning equipment, mounting equipment, support structures such as racks and rails for solar panels, and inverters.
• On-site work of a significant nature for a solar facility may include the installation of racks or other structures to affix photovoltaic panels, collectors or solar cells to a site. On-site work of a significant nature begins for a wind facility with the beginning of the excavation for the foundation, the setting of anchor bolts into the ground or the pouring of the concrete pads of the foundation.
  

Physical work of a significant nature does not include work that produces property that is either in existing inventory or is normally held in inventory. As retail energy prices rise, solar system installation prices remain at historic lows, not yet affected by tariffs. Solar prices dropped for the third consecutive six-month period. Now at $2.50 per watt, prices are contributing to the popularity of solar, even in states without supportive policies.