Glossary
DSIRE
DSIRE (Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency) is a public database, maintained by North Carolina State University with support from the Department of Energy, that lists federal, state, local and utility incentives for renewable energy and efficiency. It is the tool to check whether an incentive you are offered actually exists.
What DSIRE is
It is a free website (dsireusa.org) where you can search by state or zip code and see every program in force: tax credits, exemptions, rebates, net metering policies, utility programs and financing. Each entry shows who administers it, who qualifies, amounts and the last update date, with a link to the official source.
It is not an agency and does not grant incentives; it is a catalog. Its value is that it sells nothing.
Why it matters in Florida
Florida has fewer state incentives than other states, and the ones that exist are specific: the property tax exemption for solar improvements, the sales tax exemption on solar equipment, each utility’s net metering rules, and some local or cooperative programs. That is fertile ground for a salesperson to invent a “state program” or a “county rebate” that does not exist.
When someone mentions an incentive, checking takes five minutes: go to DSIRE, filter by Florida and look it up. If it is not there and not on the website of the entity that supposedly grants it, it does not exist.
Common mistake
Trusting that the installer “already applied all the incentives” in the proposal. Credits and exemptions are your responsibility, not the installer’s, and they are not liable if a number was wrong. Verify every incentive line against DSIRE and against the primary source (IRS.gov, the county, your utility). The current state of Florida’s programs is in Florida solar incentives 2026.
Full guide: Florida solar incentives 2026: what exists, what ended and what never existed →
Updated