With Budget 2025 reaching Royal Assent on March 26th, 2026, we’re happy to provide solar installers with clarity on several key federal incentives. While much of the policy direction was already signaled, the details now matter, especially when it comes to eligibility timing and how projects in your current pipeline will be impacted.
Below are the three key takeaways for residential, commercial, and industrial installers, with a focus on what qualifies, what doesn’t, and important milestone dates for effectivity.
1. Residential Solar: No New Federal Support
Budget 2025 confirms, as expected by industry, there is no new federal support for residential solar, alongside the continued wind-down of the Greener Homes Grant and Loan programs.
Projects that were already approved under the Greener Homes Loan may still proceed under existing terms, but no new funding intake is expected. This creates a clear dividing line in your pipeline between:
- Funded projects already in progress, and
- Future projects with no federal backing
The practical takeaway is straightforward: the residential market will increasingly rely on more localized provincial programs, utility incentives, and non-government-based financing solutions.
While no new federal funding for residential solar is a challenge, this also presents the opportunity for industry alignment. Installers should be thinking about the next policy “ask” and engaging through organizations like CanREA to advocate for new federal policy support with a focus on more financially sustainable programs.
2. Commercial Solar: CE-ITC Opens the Door for Non-Taxable Entities
One of the most important updates in this budget is the confirmation of the 15% Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit (CE-ITC) for non-taxable entities, including municipalities, Indigenous communities, and Crown corporations.
This new Investment Tax Credit is different than the existing 30% Clean Technology ITC (CT-ITC) with which most installers are already familiar:
- CT-ITC (30%) → applies to taxable entities with sufficient tax liability
- CE-ITC (15%) → applies to non-taxable entities that cannot otherwise benefit from tax credits
The most important detail for installers is eligibility timing:
Projects are eligible if they are considered “available for use” after April 16, 2024
Now that the legislation has passed, this retroactive provision is fully in force. That means:
- Projects commissioned (available for use) after April 16, 2024, may now qualify
- Projects completed before that date do not qualify
- Projects currently under construction will qualify based on their “available for use” date, not when construction began
This distinction is critical. Many installers have projects delivered in late 2024 or 2025 for municipalities or other non-taxable customers; those projects may now be retroactively eligible for a 15% credit.
If you serve public-sector or Indigenous clients, it’s worth revisiting your recent and current pipeline immediately to identify opportunities. Charge Solar can help ensure eligibility using in-house expertise and/or external professional consultants.
Charge Solar will be hosting an upcoming webinar to provide installers with a detailed break down of CE-ITC eligibility and how it compares in practice to the CT-ITC, especially in mixed-entity or partnership structures.
3. Accelerated CCA: Resetting Year1 Depreciation to 100%
The budget also confirms that Accelerated Capital Cost Allowance (ACCA) will return to a 100% first-year depreciation rate once the bill is passed, rather than stepping down to 55% in 2026–2027.
Solar and energy storage equipment typically fall under Class 43.1 and 43.2, and the industry has already been operating with the available accelerated capital cost allowance (aka Enhanced Depreciation) for the past several years. This update simply resets the Year1 Depreciation to 100%.
This means installers can reset their commercial proposals to once again include full first-year depreciation benefits, rather than the 55% before this budget bill was passed.
What Installers Should Do Now
With Royal Assent complete, the focus shifts from policy uncertainty to execution:
- Review your pipeline: Identify commercial projects commissioned after April 16, 2024, that may now qualify for CE-ITC
- Clarify “available for use” dates: This will determine eligibility more than construction timelines of previous projects to determine if any completed projects are now eligible for the CE-ITC.
- Adapt your residential solar strategy: Continue to shape your business assuming no federal incentives for at least the rest of 2026.
- Engage on policy: Work through CanREA to shape the next phase of residential support
Installers who take the time to align their projects with these eligibility rules will be best positioned to capture available incentives and support their customers effectively. Charge Solar is ready to support installers with feasibility studies, engineering services, and/or guidance on CE-ITC and ACCA eligibility.
Stay tuned for our upcoming webinar, where we’ll walk through CE-ITC in detail and highlight key differences compared to the CT-ITC and/or reach out to your Charge Solar Account Manager should you have any questions in the meantime.
Jeff MacAulay
CEO, Charge Solar
