Massachusetts solar rebates and incentives: 2026 guide

Solar panels might seem expensive, but if you live in Massachusetts, you're in luck. Your state offers some of the most generous solar incentives in the country, helping thousands of homeowners shrink their upfront costs while locking in decades of lower electricity bills. There are multiple ways to bring down the price of going solar—and start saving sooner than you might think.

Even better? The long-term savings from reduced electricity costs typically outweigh your upfront investment. Here's how to take advantage of Massachusetts' solar incentives.

Incentives help bring solar's price tag down considerably in Massachusetts. Here are the major ones to know about:

MA Residential Energy Credit

When it comes to clear cut state solar incentives, it doesn’t get a lot simpler than the MA Residential Energy Credit. If you live in MA, you'll get a credit worth 15% of your solar panel system cost, up to $1,000, towards your MA state income tax bill. The only catch is that your system has to be installed on your primary residence.

Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART)

Massachusetts introduced its Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program in 2018 to compensate solar owners for the electricity their systems generate after the state’s Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC) program reached capacity. Under the original SMART framework, customers of Eversource, National Grid, and Unitil earned a fixed per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) incentive for solar energy production over a 10-year period.

Due to strong demand, the original SMART program’s incentive capacity filled quickly, and by the early 2020s, incentive levels for many customers had declined significantly or were no longer available.

In response, Massachusetts redesigned the program. In 2025, the state officially launched SMART 3.0, a successor to the original SMART program. Rather than relying on a single, finite pool of incentive capacity, SMART 3.0 operates on an annual program-year structure, with incentive rates and available capacity reviewed and reset each year by the Department of Energy Resources (DOER). This new design is intended to provide a more flexible, sustainable approach to supporting solar deployment as market conditions change.

Under SMART 3.0, many residential solar systems are again eligible for a modest per-kWh production incentive, with higher incentive levels available for certain project types, including low-income installations and projects paired with energy storage. Solar-plus-storage systems, in particular, can still receive additional compensation through the SMART program and other state or utility battery incentives.

While SMART incentives are generally smaller than they were in the program’s early years, they remain one component of Massachusetts’ broader solar policy framework, along with its Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).

In addition to the great rebates and incentives above, Massachusetts also offers tax exemptions for solar panel systems. The solar sales tax exemption ensures that you won't have to pay a sales tax on your system, while the solar property tax exemption means you don't need to pay a higher property tax for adding solar panels to your house.

If you connect your solar panel system to the grid, you can benefit from net metering, one of the best solar panel incentives available in Massachusetts. With net metering, you earn credits when you send excess electricity from your solar panels to the grid. When the sun isn't shining and you need to pull electricity from the grid, your utility will apply the credits to your bill. Net metering makes it so you will owe very little, or even nothing, on your electric bills with solar panels. 

A few municipal utilities in Massachusetts don't offer net metering, but all three regulated electric companies must support it for solar panel systems with inverters rated under 25 kW. Your actual solar panel system size could be a bit larger than 25 kW, but your inverter size must be below it based on the 2024 net metering revisions by the MA Department of Public Utilities. 

If you have a three-phase power supply (this will mostly be mid-sized businesses or large housing developments), net metering is supported for systems with inverter ratings between 26 and 60 kW. You no longer have a cap on how much excess energy you can send to the grid as long as your solar system is mainly used to power your home or business and received an interconnection agreement before January 1, 2021.

Learn more about Massachusetts net metering programs:

In addition to solar incentives, Massachusetts also offers some great battery incentive programs to bring down the price of energy storage. As we said before, unlike with a solar only system, you can earn additional compensation through the SMART 3.0 program if you also have a battery.

Mass Save also runs a demand response program called ConnectedSolutions. In this program, you allow your utility company access to your battery's stored energy from June through September, between 3-8 pm. In exchange, you'll receive $275 for every kW your utility company pulls from your battery during times when the grid is strained. If you participate, you'll qualify for 0% interest financing for your battery and you'll be locked into the program for five years. 

Some residential and municipal light companies offer battery storage incentives through the NextZero Connected Homes and NextZero Battery Programs. The Connected Homes Program offers $30 per month in the form of bill credits when you connect your battery and participate in peak events. It’s currently limited to Duracell and Emporia batteries, but you could also receive $5 to $10 per month for electric vehicles, chargers, electric water heaters, and a Wi-Fi thermostat. 

After enrolling your battery in the Connected Homes program, you qualify for the Battery Program offering a $100 per kWh rebate for sharing your battery’s capacity. This means a battery with a 15 kWh rated storage capacity would receive a $1,500 rebate. As of 2026, the Battery Program is also limited to Duracell, Emporia, and Tesla batteries.

Belmont Light customers can take advantage of a $500 rebate for battery installations when you submit the application within six months of installation. There is no system size restriction and the rebate will appear as a credit on your bill if approved. 

Ipswich residents can receive a $2,000 rebate for battery installations between 5 and 20 kWh. Your battery must be enrolled in the Connected Homes Program before applying for this rebate.