How to set up the investment tax credit (ITC)

Summary

This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to configure the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) in OpenSolar. It explains how the ITC is applied based on the selected payment option—especially for loan scenarios—and how to ensure it reflects accurately in your proposals and customer-facing documentation.

How to Set Up the Investment Tax Credit (ITC)

To apply ITC benefits to commercial or residential customers and reflect them properly in your financial modeling, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Control > Other > Incentives

2. Click + Add Incentive to create a new incentive entry

3. Complete the following fields in the Incentive Creation Window:

Important Notes on Loan Pay Down Behavior

Enabling "Use for Loan Pay Down" ensures that the ITC amount is modeled as a prepayment toward the customer's loan. This impacts the projected monthly loan payments in the proposal and more accurately reflects financial outcomes if the customer uses their tax credit to reduce their loan principal.

 Prepayment Setup Required

Note: If you toggle "Use for Loan Pay Down" ON, make sure the loan product has a prepayment configuration set up under its settings. This ensures the system can correctly model:

• A higher initial payment followed by a lower one

• Or vice versa, depending on the selected prepayment structure

If this setup is not completed, the ITC may incorrectly appear as a down payment toward the system cost rather than as a loan prepayment, potentially misrepresenting cash flows in the proposal.