Different buildings, different load shapes
Water treatment, lift stations and wastewater plants are often a town’s largest electric accounts, running day and night with pump motors that set high demand. Solar offsets daytime kWh; storage or pump-scheduling changes address demand. Town halls and libraries look like offices, and recreation centers with pools run long hours year-round.
We review each account separately. A town’s best solar site is often not its most visible building.
Elective pay, PPAs and procurement
Counties, cities, towns and special districts can generally elect to receive the §48E credit as a direct payment under §6417. As of September 2026, solar must generally be placed in service by December 31, 2027 to qualify, while storage stays eligible much longer. Registration, foreign-entity-of-concern sourcing and domestic-content rules apply; your finance director and a tax advisor should confirm the details.
Public procurement — RFPs, council approvals and budget cycles — often sets the schedule more than construction does. With the 2027 solar deadline, start the approval process early.
Towns that own their utility
Colorado has more than two dozen municipal electric utilities, from Colorado Springs and Fort Collins to small eastern plains towns. Colorado’s main net-metering statute doesn’t cover municipal utilities with 40,000 or fewer customers; those utilities set many of their own terms within narrower state minimums. In those towns, solar on a municipal building is partly a policy decision for the utility itself.
Resilience for critical facilities
Fire stations, dispatch centers and emergency shelters are where solar plus storage has the clearest public value: a battery can keep critical circuits running during grid outages and wildfire shutoffs. These sites usually already have generators, and storage can reduce generator run time or cover the first hours of an outage.
FAQ
Questions we hear
Can a town receive federal solar credits without paying taxes?
Generally yes, through elective pay, which pays the §48E credit directly to eligible governments. Pre-filing registration and sourcing rules apply, and solar generally must be in service by the end of 2027. Confirm with a tax advisor.
Should our water plant get solar or storage first?
It depends on the bill. If demand charges from pump motors are a large share, storage or pump scheduling may do more; if energy charges dominate, solar may. We break down the bill before recommending either.
Our town runs its own electric utility. Does net metering apply?
The main state net-metering statute doesn’t cover municipal utilities with 40,000 or fewer customers, so a town utility sets much of its own policy. Check with your utility director before assuming statewide rules apply.
How does the 2027 deadline interact with our budget cycle?
Tightly. Council approval, procurement and utility interconnection can take many months before construction. If you want the solar credit, plan approvals now so the system can be placed in service by December 31, 2027.