A local option, not a statewide rule
Section 58.1-3661 gives localities the power to exempt certified solar energy equipment from local property taxes. Eligible technologies include photovoltaics as well as solar thermal and space heating equipment.
Because it is enabling legislation rather than a mandate, the practical answer varies. Some localities have adopted a full exemption, some a partial one, and some none. A guide that says Virginia exempts solar from property tax is describing the possibility rather than your situation.
Ask your county or city commissioner of the revenue directly whether an ordinance is in place, whether the exemption is full or partial, and what equipment it covers. That is a short call and it produces a definite answer rather than a general one.
Where adopted, the exemption is effective beginning in the next succeeding tax year and is permitted for a term of not less than five years. Ask what term applies locally, since that is the horizon you can actually plan against.
Why the answer changes your arithmetic
A solar system generally raises what a home is worth, and an exemption is what stops that improvement arriving as an annual tax increase. In a locality that has not adopted one, that increase is a real cost that belongs in your own figures.
Because it is an exemption rather than a payment, it is invisible either way. No cheque arrives when it applies and no bill arrives labelled solar when it does not, which is why almost nobody checks.
Ask the question before you sign rather than afterwards, because the answer may change how you weigh a project rather than merely how you describe it. It is one of the few Virginia-specific numbers you can actually pin down in advance.
Ask your installer whether they know the position in your locality, but treat that as a starting point rather than an answer. The commissioner of the revenue is the party who administers it.
The parts that do not vary by locality
Virginia Code Section 56-594 compensates a residential system of not more than 25 kW one-to-one at the retail rate for electricity exported to the grid, and the investor-owned utilities and the cooperatives are obliged to follow it. Systems are typically sized not to exceed your annual consumption.
Standby charges do vary, but by utility rather than by locality. Residential systems greater than 15 kW AC in Dominion Energy territory are subject to them, while Appalachian Power and electric cooperative customers are not subject to demand charges.
Certificates are open to you regardless. The Virginia Clean Economy Act created the market, and at least 1 percent of Dominion's annual requirement must come from in-state distributed generation smaller than 1 MW. A seller does not have to be a Dominion or Appalachian Power customer to sell into it.
Certificates are eligible to be sold for 5 years and prices move with the market, so treat any SREC income in a projection as a forecast and ask to see the figures without it.
Ask your locality about the property tax exemption
Virginia Code Section 58.1-3661 allows any county, city or town to exempt or partially exempt certified solar energy equipment from local property taxes by adopting an ordinance. This is the detail most often got wrong about Virginia solar, because it is a local option rather than a statewide rule.
So a guide that tells you Virginia exempts solar from property tax is only right where the locality has actually adopted an ordinance, and it may be a partial exemption rather than a full one. Ask your county or city commissioner of the revenue directly whether an ordinance is in place and what it covers.
Where adopted, the exemption is effective beginning in the next succeeding tax year and is permitted for a term of not less than five years. Ask what term applies locally, since that is the horizon you can actually count on.
On the federal side, the 30 percent Residential Clean Energy Credit under Section 25D expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, so a cash or loan purchase now receives no federal credit. Section 48E survives at 30 percent for third-party owners under leases and power purchase agreements, so ask any such provider what they claim and what of that value reaches you, and confirm with a tax advisor.