We Reimagined the Prepaid Lease with Instant Savings and a Clear Path to Ownership

How leveraging commercial solar and battery tax credits unlocks up to 25% instant savings to replace solar tax credits lost in 2025

 
For two decades, the Residential Clean Energy Tax Credit (often called the solar ITC) helped make solar an easy financial decision for homeowners. By allowing 30% of the system cost to be claimed directly against federal taxes, it played a major role in the growth of rooftop solar.

When that incentive expired at the end of 2025, many Arizona homeowners assumed the opportunity for maximum savings disappeared with it. But we've seen industry changes before. When the landscape shifts, we adapt—and we're excited to introduce a new path to significant solar and battery savings.

Creative installers like Sun Valley Solar have developed a new generation of solar leases from the ashes of the residential ITC. Our home-grown Sun Valley Amicus Impact Prepaid Lease is far removed from the rigid, long-term contracts of years past. Instead, it gives homeowners access to commercial tax incentives that remain available, with the savings reflected in the upfront price from day one—no need to wait until tax season to realize the benefit. The only tradeoff is that you don't own the system immediately, though ownership becomes available to you after just five years.

So how does our new lease model actually work? Let’s take a closer look.

Key Takeaways

• Save Up to 25% Instantly: Tax incentives are reflected in the upfront price—no waiting for tax season to realize the savings.

• Optional Ownership After Year Five: Once the five-year IRS ownership requirement is met, you have the option to purchase the system outright.

• Five Years of Worry-Free Protection: Monitoring, maintenance, and a production guarantee are all included during the initial lease term.

Section 48E: The Commercial Credit That Now Powers Residential Solar

While the residential tax credit is gone, the commercial Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) remains. Governed by Section 48E of the Internal Revenue Code, it provides a substantial tax incentive to businesses that own and place qualifying solar energy systems into service.

The key is this: when a solar system is owned by a business instead of the homeowner, that business can claim the commercial tax credit.

That's exactly how the Sun Valley Solar Amicus Prepaid Lease works. During the initial lease term, Sun Valley Solar owns the system, claims the commercial tax credit, and passes a significant portion of that value back to the homeowner through an upfront reduction in system cost—as much as 25%, depending on the equipment selected.

In other words, homeowners still benefit from a federal solar tax incentive. Instead of receiving a credit on their personal tax return, they receive the value upfront through a lower system cost. To satisfy IRS requirements, the system remains under Sun Valley Solar's ownership for five years before ownership can be transferred to the homeowner.

This Isn’t Your Father’s Solar “Lease”

The word "lease" carries some baggage—and understandably so. Many traditional solar leases locked homeowners into 20- to 25-year contracts with annual payment escalators, complicated home-sale transfers, limited upgrade options, and no clear path to ownership. They often worked better for the financing company than for the homeowner.

The Sun Valley Solar Amicus Impact Prepaid Lease represents a new generation of solar leasing. Designed around today's market, it addresses many of the frustrations that gave traditional leases a bad reputation. Here's what makes it different:

• An easy path to ownership at yer six. To comply with IRS requirements and preserve the full commercial tax benefit, Sun Valley Solar Amicus Impact LLC owns the system during the first five years. Once that ownership period is complete, you have the option to purchase the system with a single fair-market-value payment. Prefer to keep leasing? You can simply continue with a reasonable monthly payment while enjoying ongoing monitoring, maintenance, and system support.
• Savings are immediate and simple. Unlike the old residential tax credit, which required homeowners to have sufficient federal tax liability and wait until filing season, the savings in our re-imagined lease show up directly in prepayment amount. The commercial tax credit is priced into the deal upfront – no need to file with your taxes.
• No complicated tax filing required. The commercial owner—Sun Valley Solar Amicus Lease LLC—claims the commercial tax credit. You simply benefit from a lower system cost, with no IRS Form 5695 and no concerns about having enough tax liability to claim the full credit.

• • Prepaid means no monthly payments. You pay the lease upfront, with the value of the commercial tax incentives already reflected in the price—saving up to 25%, depending on the equipment selected. In exchange, Sun Valley Solar retains ownership of the system for the five-year IRS holding period.

The Third-Party Ownership Period: A Feature, Not a Bug

A reasonable question homeowners ask is: “If I’m the one generating energy on my roof, why would I want someone else to own the system for the first five years?”

The answer is that it is only through the third-party ownership (TPO) option that the tax credit benefits are accessible. Cash purchases are still the best way to secure instant ownership, but without the benefit of the TPO period, no tax credit discount is applied, making the total system cost for a cash purchase 25% higher. But if a brief TPO period is acceptable, there are additional benefits that homeowners often don’t get when they purchase outright:

• Performance guarantees. Because a third-party owner like Sun Valley Solar has a vested interest in maximizing system performance, if production falls below the guaranteed level, we'll identify the issue and correct it at no cost to you.
• Operations and maintenance coverage. During the TPO period, proactive monitoring, maintenance, and necessary repairs are mostly included. 
• Savings are built-in. As the lessor, Sun Valley Solar is eligible to claim the commercial solar tax credit. We pass a significant portion of that value to you upfront, reducing your initial cost. In exchange, the system remains under our ownership for the required five-year IRS holding period.

Let's see how this new approach compares to a traditional solar lease of years past. 

Born From Our Coop Mindset & Values

Sun Valley Solar Solutions is a proud, long-standing member of the Amicus Solar Cooperative—a national network of independent, values-driven solar companies. Instead of competing, Amicus members collaborate. We share best practices, leverage our collective purchasing power, and hold each other to the highest ethical and operational standards in order to build happier solar customers and a healthier industry overall.

When the residential tax credit expired and national banks began pushing rigid contracts with hidden fees, a group of Amicus members decided homeowners deserved a better option. We came together to form Amicus Impact Leasing, a new financing entity built from the ground up on our shared cooperative values: absolute transparency, community benefit, and putting the customer first.

This collaborative effort is the foundation of the Sun Valley Amicus Impact Prepaid Lease.

Instead of handing your financial future over to a faceless Wall Street middleman, you are partnering with an entity created by solar professionals, for solar customers. This cooperative structure is what allows us to capture those commercial tax credits for you while maintaining total local accountability.

We handle the installation and proactive maintenance, and we own the system for the first five years, ensuring your system performs exactly as promised. Then, starting in year six, we provide a straightforward, fair-market-value buyout option so you can take full ownership of your energy future. No endless bills, no complicated home-sale roadblocks, and no warranty drop-offs.

One Partner. Clear Accountability

As more companies introduce prepaid solar lease programs that benefit from this commercial tax credit workaround, you'll likely find similar savings and ownership timelines from other providers. 

The difference isn't just how the lease is financed—it's who stands behind it.

Many prepaid lease programs are owned by national banks, investment funds, or third-party financing companies. The solar installer sells the system, but once the paperwork is complete, long-term ownership and many customer responsibilities shift to someone else. If questions arise later, homeowners may find themselves working with multiple companies, each responsible for a different part of the experience and accountable to people pulling the strings behind the scenes.

The Sun Valley Amicus Impact Lease was built differently.

Sun Valley Solar Solutions remains your financing partner, system owner, designer, installer, and long-term support team. From your first consultation through installation, ongoing care, and ultimately system ownership, you work with the same Arizona-based company every step of the way.

That means one relationship. One phone number. One team that's accountable from beginning to end.

No finger-pointing. No wondering who to call. Just the same local company that earned your trust on day one standing behind your investment for years to come.

What This Means for Arizona Homeowners

In Arizona, the financial case for solar remains as strong as it’s ever been. SRP has implemented recent rate increases, and APS has a proposed 14% rate increase on the docket for 2026. For homeowners running air conditioning for six or more months a year, generating your own electricity isn’t just an environmental choice, it’s increasingly a financial necessity and the only viable alternative to being wholly dependent on the grid.

The loss of the residential tax credit removes one incentive pathway, but newer more flexible lease options like the Sun Valley Amicus Impact Prepaid Lease create another pathway through a commercial tax credit workaround that’s arguably more accessible because it doesn’t require a tax liability to receive the benefits. What’s more, there are significant operations and maintenance advantages during the TPO period.

The Industry Is Evolving and So Are We

The expiration of the residential ITC marked a major shift for the solar industry, but it didn't change our mission: helping Arizona homeowners make smart, financially sound investments in clean energy.

Over the past two decades, we've weathered changing net metering policies, supply chain disruptions, utility rate reforms, and countless incentive changes. Around here, we jokingly call it the "Solar Coaster." Every challenge has pushed us to innovate—and the Sun Valley Amicus Impact Prepaid Lease is the latest example.

By leveraging commercial tax incentives and combining them with a clear path to ownership, we've created a financing option that delivers meaningful savings without many of the drawbacks associated with traditional solar leases. It's transparent, flexible, and designed specifically for today's market—not yesterday's.

The path to affordable solar ownership hasn't disappeared. It has simply evolved.

If you're considering solar or battery storage in 2026, we'd love the opportunity to show you how the Sun Valley Amicus Impact Prepaid Lease compares with a traditional purchase and help you determine which option is the best fit for your home, finances, and long-term goals.

Ready to explore your options?