Energy Conservation Improvements Property Tax Exemption
Administered by New York State Department of Taxation and Finance
If you install eligible renewable energy or storage systems in New York before January 1, 2025, you may exempt the increase in property value from taxation for 15 years—meaning your property tax bill won't rise due to the new equipment. Check with your local assessor first, since municipalities and school districts can opt out of this exemption in their jurisdiction.
You can help customers reduce the financial burden of energy improvements by informing them about this 15-year property tax exemption on systems like solar, wind, micro-hydroelectric, fuel cells, micro-combined heat and power, and electric storage systems installed before January 1, 2025. The exemption applies only to the increase in assessed property value caused by the energy equipment and must be approved by the local assessor; verify that your customer's municipality has not elected to opt out.
This statewide property tax exemption, originally enacted in 1977 and reenacted in 1990 with updates through 2019, provides a 15-year exemption on the value increase from eligible renewable and storage systems (solar, wind, farm waste, micro-hydro, fuel cells, micro-CHP, and electric storage) if installed before January 1, 2025. Municipalities and school districts control whether the exemption applies locally; state-owned properties with written power purchase or environmental credit agreements receive permanent exemption. Eligibility and system specifications are detailed in RPTL Section 487 and administered by local assessors using exemption codes 3030, 3031, and 4950.
Program details
- Program ID
- 22072
- Effective
- 1/1/2018
- Expires
- 1/1/2030
- Last updated
- 4/14/2026
Eligibility
- Sectors
- commercial industrial state government agricultural multifamily residential institutional
- Technologies
- solar water heat solar space heat solar thermal electric solar photovoltaics wind (all) biomass combined heat & power fuel cells using non-renewable fuels hydroelectric (small) fuel cells using renewable fuels lithium-ion
Program summary
In 2017, New York passed Assembly Bill 260, adding electric energy storage equipment and systems as eligible for an exemption from real property taxes for certain energy equipment.
Other equipment included in the exemption includes micro-hydroelectric energy systems, fuel cell electric generating systems, and micro-combined heat and power generating equipment systems (added in the 2017 bill), as well as solar, wind, and farm waste energy systems (previously included).
The tax exemption lasts for a period of fifteen years. To qualify for the exemption solar, wind, or farm waste energy systems must be (a) in existence or constructed prior to July 1, 1988, or (b) constructed after January 1, 1991 and before January 1, 2025. Micro-hydroelectric energy, fuel cell electric generating, micro-combined heat and power generating equipment, or electric energy storage equipment and systems must be constructed after January 1, 2018 and before January 1, 2025. The exemption applies to the increase in value of the real property due to the addition of the energy equipment.
Municipalities and school districts can elect to not apply this exemption within their jurisdiction.
As of 2019, real property, comprising of or including an eligible energy system, that is owned or controlled by New York State or a New York State department, agency or public authority where New York State or the New York State department, agency, or public authority has agreed in writing with the energy system owner or operator to purchase the produced energy or the environmental credits or attributes created by virtue of the system’s operation is permanently exempt from taxation, special ad valorem levies and special assessments, and the owner of such property shall not be subject to any requirement to enter in an agreement for payments in lieu of taxes.
Contact & resources
- Contact email
- real.property@tax.ny.gov
- Additional resources
Please verify current program details with the administering agency before making any financial decisions.
