Division of Energy

Welcome to Missouri Million Solar Roofs

We often get questions about the use of solar energy in Missouri and this Web page is a good place for Missourians to begin to explore solar as a reliable and cleaner energy source both for grid-interconnected and for off-grid applications. If you are considering use of solar energy, we can offer limited technical assistance regarding photovoltaics, solar thermal, or building design. If you need assistance, please contact the Energy Center. Below are topics that may answer some of your questions.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources officially became a Million Solar Roofs (MSR) Partnership in early 2004. As with all MSR Partnerships, we intend to facilitate the installation of 500 solar roofs by the year 2010. We have thus far accomplished four solar installations on state government buildings, including the Lewis and Clark State Office Building that houses the Department of Natural Resources. Additionally, in 2004 we launched a Missouri Schools Going Solar project that will install several 1 kilowatt (kW) photovoltaic arrays at K-12 schools by 2007.

MSR Solar System Eligibility- Technical Requirements

To be considered a Million Solar Roofs System, it must be new or a system that was installed before 1997, failed, and has been reconditioned. It must also meet one or more of the following criteria:

For Photovoltaic and other Solar Electric Systems:

For Solar Thermal Water Heating Systems:

Financial Incentives for Solar Installation

In Missouri, energy prices for electricity and heating fuels tend to fall below the national average. Therefore, installation and use of solar energy technology presents economic challenges. At this time, there are no state financial incentives for solar energy equipment purchase or installation. However, the new Energy Policy Act of 2005 includes financial incentives for solar hot water and photovoltaics for the years 2006 and 2007. The act provides a 30 percent tax credit for both residential and business installation of solar technologies. Note that for residential systems there is a $2,000 limit for each technology but for business there is no limit. Also, pool heaters are not covered. The IRS rules regarding the use of these tax credits are not yet available so some details are unknown. Tax incentives for using solar energy have changed in 2009 to find out more visit the for more information visit Solar Estimate.org. Go to the International Renewable Energy Council's website and click on "State by State Incentives" for more information on Federal Incentives.

A bill was introduced in the Missouri General Assembly (HB 1684) in 2004 that proposed a tax credit of up to 25 percent (up to $7,500) of the cost to purchase and install a small renewable energy system (up to 100 kW) to generate electricity. The bill did not pass. Here is a link to the bill - http://www.house.mo.gov/content.aspx?info=/bills041/bills/hb1684.htm.

If you are interested in Missouri adopting renewable energy policies, you may wish to contact your state senator and representative. You can get contact information for your legislators by going to the State of Missouri General Assembly website.

Interconnection and Net Metering in Missouri

When a photovoltaic system is interconnected with the utility company's distribution system, this means electricity may flow both to and from the customer. There may be times of the day when a customer must use electricity provided by his or her utility company to supplement the electricity produced by the photovoltaic system. At other times of the day, the customer's photovoltaic system may supply excess electricity to the utility company's system.

Missouri's Consumer Clean Energy Act (Section 386.887, RSMo) passed in 2002, addresses interconnection of small distributed generation systems (up to 100kW) to utility companies' distribution systems and how the customer-generator is compensated for excess generation. Customer-generators are credited for excess energy put onto the grid at the "avoided cost" to the utility which may be less than two cents per kilowatthour. This should be a factor when considering interconnection. Missouri law allows individual utility companies to establish their own interconnection standards and requirements. Check with your individual utility for details. Missouri's law assigns credit for the environmental attributes of the renewable generation (including emissions avoided) to the utility rather than the owner of the photovoltaic system.

Net metering programs serve as an incentive for consumer investment in renewable energy generation. Net metering enables customers to use their own generation to offset their consumption over a billing period by allowing their electric meters to turn backwards when they generate electricity in excess of their demand. This offset means that customers receive credit at the retail price level for the excess electricity they generate. Without net metering, a second meter is usually installed to measure the electricity that flows back to the provider, with the provider purchasing the power at a rate much lower than the retail rate. For more information on net metering, go to the Million Solar Roofs "Solar Information Resources" and scroll down to Net Metering Information.

Register Your Solar Roof with Missouri MSR!

Please let us know if you install a solar system. Please send the following information:

Your name, address of system installation, size of system, date of installation, and basic system component description. If you would like to include a photo and schematic design for posting on this website, please attach that photo as well. You can send this information to Pat Justis or call 800-361-4827 or 314-416-2960 and ask for him.