Trevor Guilday
Founder & Chief Product Officer
Expertise:
Residential Solar Energy | Solar Incentives & Financing | Renewable Energy Policy
Education:
Bachelor of Science, Business Administration, Drexel University
About Trevor Guilday
Trevor Guilday is a respected voice in the U.S. solar industry and the Founder of EcoGen America, a leading online platform that helps homeowners make informed decisions about solar energy. Since 2016, he has worked to make solar power more transparent and accessible, leading initiatives that simplify complex topics like installation costs, incentives, and long-term savings. Trevor’s insights on residential solar trends have been featured in major media outlets and referenced by industry organizations across the country.
Areas of Expertise
Residential Solar Energy
Comprehensive analysis of home solar system sizing, equipment selection, and long-term energy yields.
Incentives & Financing
Expert guidance on navigating the Federal ITC, state-specific rebates, and SREC programs to maximize ROI.
Renewable Energy Policy
In-depth research and reporting on the latest legislative changes impacting solar homeowners nationwide.
Recent Articles by Trevor Guilday
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July 12, 2026How Much Do Solar Panels Cost in Pennsylvania? (2026 Price Guide)
Every major Pennsylvania utility raised its Price-to-Compare on June 1, 2026, and the statewide residential rate for electricity now stands at 20.43¢ per kWh, 14% above the national average. Rising rates and higher energy bills are why a lot of Pennsylvania homeowners are pricing solar this year.
The installed cost of solar panels is pretty straightforward in Pennsylvania. A typical system costs $2.84 per watt which is just under the national average. What changes the real cost is everything Pennsylvania stacks around that number: a 6% sales tax on solar with no exemption, no property-tax break, and the 30% federal credit gone for systems finished after December 31, 2025.
What a system costs in 2026 depends on three things: the installed price, the taxes Pennsylvania adds to it, and the net-metering rule that decides how fast it pays back.
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July 9, 2026
South Carolina Solar Panel Cost: 2026 Prices & Savings Guide
South Carolina is one of the cheaper states in the country to buy solar, at $2.80 per watt installed, and it gets enough sun for a system to produce well. Yet the economics here are harder than that sunshine suggests, because the state pairs a moderate electricity rate with an export policy that pays only a few cents for the power you send back.
With the 30% federal credit gone for buyers, a 2026 quote shows the whole cost, with nothing subtracted at tax time. That leaves South Carolina’s 25% state tax credit to carry the entire incentive load, though it arrives over several tax years rather than as a check at purchase.
Here is what a system costs in South Carolina right now, what pushes that number up or down, and how fast it pays back on a Dominion, Duke, or Santee Cooper bill.
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May 28, 2026
The Cost of Solar Panels in Wisconsin (2026 Guide)
Wisconsin electricity bills jumped again this year. We Energies raised residential rates 9.29% in 2025 and another 8.58% in 2026, adding $24 a month to a typical household bill. Alliant, WPS, MGE, and Xcel all followed with PSC-approved increases locked in through 2027.
A solar system in Wisconsin runs $3.11 per watt installed, putting a full-size residential system between $16,400 and $41,800 before incentives. That number is shaped by local factors like snow-load engineering requirements, net-metering rules that change the savings by utility territory, and a state rebate that doubled for 2026 but runs on a first-come, first-served cap.
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May 31, 2026
The Cost of Solar Panels in West Virginia (2026 Guide)
West Virginia’s average residential electricity rate hit 16.37 cents per kilowatt-hour in March 2026, up from 11.5 cents at the start of the decade. The federal Residential Clean Energy Credit ended on December 31, 2025. West Virginia has no state tax credit, no rebate, and no sales-tax exemption on solar equipment. So the 2026 cost question here is unusually clean: you pay close to full sticker, and the only thing earning it back is the rate trajectory.
That trajectory is what keeps the math working for a meaningful share of West Virginia households. The math also divides cleanly by utility: an Appalachian Power customer who interconnects today is on a different deal than a Mon Power or Potomac Edison customer, and a homeowner who grandfathered in before the 2025 deadline is on a better deal than either.
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July 9, 2026
The Cost of Solar Panels in North Dakota (2026 Guide)
North Dakota has had the cheapest residential electricity in the country for as long as most homeowners can remember. At 11.64 cents per kilowatt-hour, the math on rooftop solar never worked. The bill was too low, the winters too long, and the installer market too thin for anyone to bother.
That changed in February 2026. Xcel Energy filed its first North Dakota rate case in four years and landed a 12.92% residential increase, pushing the statewide average up 13.8% year over year. Meanwhile, the federal Residential Clean Energy Credit expired at the end of 2025, and installed solar costs here sit roughly 28% above the national marketplace average.
The question for North Dakota homeowners in 2026 is not whether solar is a bargain. It is whether the rate trajectory is moving fast enough to overcome the cost headwinds.
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June 2, 2026
Solar Panel Cost in North Carolina: 2026 Pricing & Payback
A residential solar system in North Carolina runs $2.61 per watt installed in the competitive market today, which puts an average 8 kW system in the $18,400 to $23,400 range before incentives. Whether that system saves you money over 25 years depends on a different factor: which utility you have, and whether you can lock Duke Energy’s closing Net Metering Bridge before December 31, 2026.
That deadline, the loss of the 30% federal residential tax credit at the end of 2025, and the limited remaining capacity of Duke’s PowerPair rebate are the three pressure points that define 2026 solar economics for North Carolina homeowners. Installed costs have held steady, even falling for customers shopping competitively. Payback in 2026 turns on timing, not per-watt price.
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June 2, 2026
The Cost of Solar Panels in New York (2026): Real Prices, Incentives and Payback
A 7 kW solar system in 2026 New York costs a little under $20,000 before incentives. That part is straightforward. What you actually pay out of pocket depends on something most homeowners never know to ask: who owns the system on the day it switches on.
The 30% federal residential credit that absorbed $9,000 to $10,000 of an average New York buyer’s cost from 2022 through 2025 is gone for anyone who purchases on or after January 1, 2026. New York’s 25% state credit, capped at $5,000, survived, and it does something unusual. It applies to leased and power-purchase-agreement systems as well as owned ones. That single state rule is now the central decision point in a New York quote.
Here is what a 2026 New York system actually costs, why your utility and ZIP code shape the number, which incentives still apply, what payback looks like, and where the math does not work.
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March 22, 2026
The Cost of Solar Panels in Massachusetts (2026 Guide)
The cost of solar panels in Massachusetts is higher than most states, but that headline number does not tell the full story. With electricity rates hovering around 30 to 34 cents per kWh and one of the strongest incentive structures in the country, what you pay upfront is only part of the equation.
The real calculation comes down to price per watt, system size, and how much long-term income and savings your system actually generates.
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February 16, 2026
The Cost of Solar Panels in Florida (2026 Guide)
In Florida, solar pricing isn’t just about panels. Insurance rules, hurricane engineering, and rising utility rates all play major roles in what homeowners actually pay.
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July 12, 2026Pennsylvania Solar Incentives 2026: Net Metering, SRECs, Tax Credit Status & More
Most Pennsylvania homeowners come to solar expecting a stack of local rebates and state tax breaks, but that is not the case. There is no state cash rebate, no sales-tax exemption, and no property-tax break for the value solar adds to your home.
While the incentives available in Pennsylvania are more limited than most people expect, they can still provide a lot of value to the right homeowner in certain scenarios. Full-retail net metering credits every exported kilowatt-hour at the same 20.43¢/kWh Pennsylvania households pay for power, and a small, swinging income comes from selling solar renewable energy credits.
These programs reward two choices: sizing your system to your own use, and owning the system instead of signing it over to a third-party or financier.
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July 9, 2026
South Carolina Solar Incentives (2026): 25% State Tax Credit, Net Metering & Santee Cooper Rebate
In 2026, South Carolina’s biggest solar incentive is the 25% state income tax credit under §12-6-3587—worth up to $3,500 a year—plus a bill credit for any power your panels send back to the grid. The catch: that bill credit depends on your utility.
The federal incentives changed too. The 30% residential tax credit dropped to $0 for systems installed after December 31, 2025, and South Carolina has no SREC market to replace that lost value.
What’s left is a smaller, utility-driven set: the state tax credit, an avoided-cost export payment that varies by territory, a property-tax exemption, and one upfront rebate available only to Santee Cooper customers.
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May 1, 2026
Massachusetts Solar Incentives, Tax Credits & Rebates (2026 Guide)
Massachusetts offers one of the strongest solar incentive stacks in the country, but understanding how each program works is where most homeowners get tripped up. Between SMART 3.0 payments, net metering credits, and state tax benefits, the total value of incentives can dramatically change your solar economics.
The key is knowing which incentives you qualify for, how they interact, and who actually receives the financial benefit.
