Tax Credit?

[virus hunter]

I am a newbie not only to this site but also to the renewable energy concept.  I am currently aggressively researching the possibility of building my own wind turbine. In doing this reasearch I have read notice 2009-41 at the IRS website that details the tax incentives for wind turbines and other renewable energy devices.  To qualify for the incentive it seems that all that is necessary for wind turbines is for the manufacturer to certify the capacity in half kilowatt increments.  Does anyone have any specific knowledge or experience as to wether or not a homemade wind turbine would qualify if the unit can demonstrate production via historical data?

[wdyasq]

" it seems that all that is necessary for wind turbines is for the manufacturer to certify the capacity in half kilowatt increments"

Need definition for "manufacturer".

Need definition for "certify".

Need definition for "half kilowatt".

Need definition for "is".

All according to the friendly folks at the IRS and in the context of the law quoted.

Ron

[brokengun]

I don't want to kill your thoughts but I have serious doubts that the gov't would be willing to extend those incentives for homebuilt machines. Firstly, because the machine isn't UL listed or backed by anything other than your word. Also because it would be all too easy to fudge the numbers and make money from the gov't building homebrew turbines. Another reason would be reliability. Say you build a 17 foot machine, great but if the stator overheats in the first month.... and you never replace it then you shouldn't get a tax credit and no one will be able to check up on that.

I'd be interested if anyone has more information. Perhaps tax credits should be base more on how much power you make regardless of the turbine... of course it would be hard to prove that your not just running a generator when gas is cheap!

[youmanskids]

Im also interested in trying to get the 30% start-up cost tax cedit for my homebrew 10 footer.  has anyone filed the IRS form 5695 with data for a homebrew tubine and been sucessful?

[divemaster1963]

The only form that I have seen was The cost for solar or wind energy from the IRS. the unit I have is solar and wind for primary use in my shop. My acct. says if you are producing power to use you can recoup the cost of materials. Just save reciepts. And if you have one that was working during the 2009 year even for only a month it was still counts. maybe keep dated pictures of operating system.

EX:

Batteries

wire

Connectors

inverts

and all other items in building the units

States have different regs. Some require pre aproval to get there credits so it is different every where.

But as with all advice. take it with a grain of salt and check with a tax professional.

[youmanskids]

thanks divemaster,  i dont want to hijack this thread but would like to resurrect it-- I'm concerned with the requirement for "certified" wind turbine as stated in the IRS information.  I'd like to try and file for it in 2010 but am wondering if any other homebrew turbines out there have tried in previous years, and if they were sucessful, got audited for it, fined, or are perhaps reading this in thier prison cell ?  has anyone tried it (not wanting to be the first...) thanks for your input.  Roger