Commercial solar incentives in California: what’s expiring, and what apartment and commercial owners can still use

The federal deadline: 48E and the end of 2027

The 2025 federal tax law (Public Law 119-21) cut short the Section 48E business solar credit. Two dates matter:

• July 4, 2026 was the begin-construction cutoff. Solar projects that legally started construction on or before that date keep a longer runway under the IRS continuity rules.
• December 31, 2027 is the hard placed-in-service deadline for everything else. If a project that started after July 4, 2026 is energized in January 2028, it gets no 48E credit.

The credit itself is unchanged for qualifying projects: a 6% base rate, or 30% for facilities under 1 MW AC or that meet prevailing-wage and apprenticeship requirements. Battery storage runs on a different clock and is not subject to the 2027 solar cutoff. Raise two complications with your tax advisor: foreign-entity sourcing rules for projects starting construction in 2026, and a June 2026 court ruling that vacated the IRS’s beginning-of-construction notice, which may still be appealed or replaced.

Is there a multifamily solar tax credit?

Apartment owners searching for a “multifamily solar tax credit” often land on homeowner pages. The homeowner credit (Section 25D) ended for systems completed after December 31, 2025, and it never covered rental properties. A business-owned system on an apartment building generally falls under 48E, the same as a commercial building, with the same 2027 deadline. Qualifying solar is also five-year MACRS property, and 100% bonus depreciation is permanent for qualifying property acquired after January 19, 2025. Ask your CPA how both apply to your entity.

Why 2027 is closer than it looks

Fourteen months sounds like plenty. On a commercial or multifamily job, it has to cover structural review (often needed on older Los Angeles apartment buildings), plan check, utility interconnection review, compliant procurement and scheduling around residents. Carports add structural design and foundations. Build in float. Don’t plan to finish in December 2027.

California’s solar property tax exclusion ends January 1, 2027

This one gets less attention. It is closer.

Under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 73, adding an active solar system has not counted as “new construction” for property tax. According to the Board of Equalization, the exclusion becomes inoperative on January 1, 2027. Systems that qualify before then stay excluded until the property changes ownership; later systems are generally assessed as new construction. An extension bill, AB 2389, was held in committee in May 2026, and as amended it covered only systems up to 10 kW and public-entity sites.

What this means: if a project is underway, ask whether it can qualify before January 1. If you’re starting fresh, model property tax in.

SGIP: battery incentives are wait-listed

Since December 31, 2025, California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program has accepted new applications only to its Residential Solar and Storage Equity budget, which is fully reserved; new applications are wait-listed. Commercial and market-rate multifamily owners should not count on SGIP for a battery right now.

Exception for affordable housing: the separate SOMAH program (Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing) listed solar and integrated storage funding as available in SCE territory in early October 2026. It has already paused storage in PG&E and SDG&E territory, and its annual funding collections were authorized only through June 2026. Qualifying owners should check CalSOMAH.org now.

SCE and NEM 3.0: design changes, not a deadline

New SCE solar customers are on the Solar Billing Plan, the CPUC’s Net Billing Tariff, widely called NEM 3.0. Exports earn hourly credits that SCE’s own averages show are low at midday and much higher on summer evenings. For commercial and apartment solar in California’s SCE territory, that changes the design:

• Size to on-site load, not to the roof. Solar that offsets your own load avoids the full retail rate. Midday exports earn far less.
• Look at storage seriously. A battery can shift midday solar into the 4–9 p.m. window, and it is not subject to the 2027 solar cutoff for 48E.
• Settle metering first. On apartments, serving the house meter versus allocating production across tenant meters decides who gets the savings.

SCE’s published export values by season and hour are on our SCE NEM 3.0 export rates page.

LADWP: open programs, limited windows

LADWP is a municipal utility, so NEM 3.0 does not apply inside the City of Los Angeles. Its programs are open, some in limited windows:

• Net energy metering remains open for customer-owned systems up to 1 MW.
• Feed-in Tariff (FiT): for projects 30 kW and up, LADWP buys the output under 20-year contracts at its listed in-basin prices of 13.5–14.5¢ per kWh. LADWP’s September 2026 dashboard showed about 58 MW of capacity remaining, first-come, first-served. A waitlist applies once it fills.
• Carport & Canopy Incentive: FiT projects with qualifying carports or canopies can add $0.90 to $1.70 per watt, depending on size and whether the site is in a disadvantaged community. See solar carports.
• FiT+ pilot: a new Tranche A bidding window for solar-plus-storage projects on eligible circuits opens October 12, 2026 and closes January 10, 2027, according to LADWP.

The full rundown is on our LADWP solar programs and rebates page.

Property-manager deadlines: EV charging

Plan EV charging alongside apartment solar, since both land on the same electrical service. Recent changes:

• The federal 30C charger credit ended for chargers placed in service after June 30, 2026.
• SCE’s Charge Ready light-duty application portal closed June 30, 2026.
• LADWP’s Commercial EV Charger Rebate is closed, and LADWP has said a new enrollment with revised terms is planned for October 2026. Don’t budget on the old amounts.
• California Civil Code § 1947.6 still requires most landlords to approve compliant tenant requests to install chargers.

A load study now puts you ahead of the next rebate window. See EV charging for multifamily property managers.

What to do this quarter

1. Confirm your utility from the name on your bill.
2. Get a dated schedule to placed-in-service before December 31, 2027, with float.
3. Check property tax status on any in-progress project before January 1, 2027.
4. Bring in your CPA early on 48E, sourcing rules, depreciation and carport basis.
5. Plan solar, storage and EV charging together.

Current Energy designs and builds commercial and multifamily solar, carports, storage and EV charging from our Sylmar office. Call (888) 899-9484 with a recent utility bill and we’ll tell you which deadlines apply to your property.

Frequently asked questions

Last updated October 2026