TN · Solar

Solar quotes in Franklin, TN.

One real quote from a vetted local Franklin installer, sized to your roof, your bill, and every federal + state rebate you qualify for.

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One vetted local Franklin installer
Rebates checked for your exact address
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7.5 kW
Average system size: $2.80/W
Average cost (USD): 12 yrs
Average payback: 90+
Local installers

Why solar in Franklin

Tennessee is now one of the leanest states in the country for residential solar incentives, and a Franklin homeowner should know that going in rather than discovering it partway through a sales conversation. There is no state solar tax credit, because Tennessee levies no personal income tax for one to reduce. The 30 percent federal residential credit expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025. What is left is the electricity itself and a tariff that pays little for exports.

Why there is no state credit and never was

Tennessee levies no personal income tax. A state income tax credit reduces state income tax owed, so a state without the tax cannot offer that kind of credit.

This is structural rather than a gap that might be filled. It also means the familiar national pattern of a federal credit stacked on a state credit has never applied here.

Treatment of solar for local property assessment varies, so ask your county assessor directly how residential solar is assessed at your address. That is a specific question with a specific answer and it is worth getting before you commit.

Beyond that, what Tennessee offers a residential solar buyer is the TVA framework rather than money: Green Connect to arrange interconnection, and Dispersed Power Production to buy exports at avoided cost.

What ended federally, and the one route that remains

The 30 percent federal Residential Clean Energy Credit under Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025. A cash or loan purchase now receives no federal tax credit.

Section 48E, the commercial Clean Electricity Investment Credit, survives at 30 percent and is available to third-party owners of residential systems under leases and power purchase agreements. The provider claims it, not you.

In a state with no credit of its own, that is the only route by which a 30 percent federal credit touches a Franklin rooftop at all, which is why third-party ownership is being promoted harder in 2026.

Evaluate it as a rate rather than as a credit. Ask what the provider claims, what portion is reflected in the rate you are offered, and for the side-by-side against a cash purchase on the same system over the same term.

What actually has to carry the case

With the incentive column nearly empty, the return comes from the electricity you displace. Tennessee residential power has averaged around 13 cents per kWh, roughly a fifth below the national figure.

And only part of your generation earns that rate. Electricity consumed as it is generated displaces retail purchases; electricity exported earns TVA avoided cost, which is considerably less.

So the case rests on two numbers: how much the system produces, and what share of that production your household absorbs directly. Both are modelled assumptions rather than facts, which is where your diligence should go.

Ask for the production estimate in kilowatt hours per year with the data source named, ask for the assumed self-consumption share, and ask to see the projection at a lower share so you can judge how sensitive it is.

Costing it out on TVA terms

Strike the federal residential credit from any quote that shows it, since Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025.

Strike any state solar tax credit, because Tennessee does not have one and cannot, having no personal income tax.

Rebuild from retail value on self-consumed generation, avoided cost on exports under Dispersed Power Production, your local power company rate and fixed charges, and a production estimate you have interrogated.

Ask for that version in writing with each assumption named. In a lean market a quote that cannot itemise what it is claiming is a quote you cannot check.

Incentives & rebates

Net metering: No net metering; TVA avoided-cost export purchase

Tennessee does not offer net metering. The Tennessee Valley Authority supplies effectively all electricity in the state through more than 150 local power companies and cooperatives, and residential solar exports are handled through TVA Dispersed Power Production, under which a customer may sell all or part of their generation to TVA at TVA avoided cost. Avoided cost is a wholesale-style measure of what the electricity would otherwise have cost TVA to supply, and it sits well below the retail rate a household pays. That produces a large gap between the two things a solar system can do with a kilowatt hour. Electricity you consume at the moment it is generated is worth the full retail rate, because you simply do not buy it. Electricity you export is worth avoided cost. Nothing accumulates as a retail-rate credit bank to draw down later. The practical consequences are that oversizing is penalised, that a system covering 70 to 80 percent of annual consumption frequently returns better than one covering 100 percent, and that shifting flexible loads into daylight hours is one of the few free improvements available. An interconnection agreement with your local power company is required, and because each of those 150-plus companies administers its own process and adds its own distribution charges, the specifics genuinely vary by address.

Related Tennessee resources

Tennessee solar incentives & rebates Full breakdown of federal, provincial, and utility programs.

How payback works in Tennessee

System cost: $21,000
Estimated net cost: $21,000
Estimated payback: ~13.0 years
25-year net savings: ~$19,500

These figures are illustrative; your actual quote reflects your roof, sun exposure, and local utility rates.

Frequently asked questions

Does Tennessee have a state solar tax credit?

No, and it cannot have one of the usual kind. Tennessee levies no personal income tax, so there is no state income tax for a credit to reduce. National guides describing a federal plus state stack are describing other states.

Is the federal solar credit gone?

For cash and loan purchases, yes. Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025. Section 48E survives at 30 percent but is claimed by a third-party owner under a lease or power purchase agreement.

Should I lease to capture the remaining federal credit?

Evaluate it as a rate rather than a credit. Ask what the provider claims, what portion reaches you through the rate offered, and for the side-by-side against a cash purchase on the same system over the same term.

What carries a Tennessee solar case now?

The electricity you displace, at around 13 cents per kWh, and only for the share you consume as it is generated. Exports earn TVA avoided cost instead, so the production estimate and the self-consumption assumption are where your diligence belongs.