Property Tax Abatement for Renewable Energy Property

Summary

Florida provides a 100% property tax exemption for residential renewable energy property and an 80% property tax abatement for non-residential renewable energy property. 

Eligible renewable energy property includes solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, solar PV plus storage systems, wind energy systems, solar water heaters, and geothermal heat pumps installed on or after January 1, 2013. For the purpose of assessing property taxes for a home, an increase in the just value of the property attributable to the installation of this equipment should be ignored. The exemption applies to the following types of equipment used as part of a solar, wind or geothermal system:

• Solar energy collectors, photovoltaic modules, and inverters.
• Storage tanks and other storage systems, excluding swimming pools used as storage tanks.
• Rockbeds.
• Thermostats and other control devices.
• Heat exchange devices.
• Pumps and fans.
• Roof ponds.
• Freestanding thermal containers.
• Pipes, ducts, wiring, structural supports, refrigerant handling systems, and other components used as integral parts of such systems; however, such equipment does not include conventional backup systems of any type or any equipment or structure that would be required in the absence of the renewable energy source device.
• Windmills and wind turbines.
• Wind-driven generators.
• Power conditioning and storage devices that store or use solar energy, wind energy, or energy derived from geothermal deposits to generate electricity or mechanical forms of energy.
• Pipes and other equipment used to transmit hot geothermal water to a dwelling or structure from a geothermal deposit.

This residential exemption applies to assessments beginning January 1, 2014, and for equipment installed on or after January 1, 2013. The non-residential abatement applies to devices installed on or after January 1, 2018 and expires December 31, 2037. 

The abatement does not apply to devices installed as part of projects planned for location in a fiscally constrained county, for which an application for a comprehensive plan amendment or planned unit development zoning has been filed on or before December 31, 2017.