The state Department of Revenue acknowledged Tuesday that it will not be able to fulfill nearly $30 million in solar tax credit applications from homeowners who installed rooftop solar systems in 2015.

The news is devastating to homeowners, many of whom purchased $25,000 systems for $5,000 out-of-pocket, expecting to pay the remaining $20,000 with a combination of state and federal tax credits once they filed their tax returns.

But last summer, the state Legislature slashed tax credits and other programs to deal with a $2 billion budget deficit, imposing a cap of $10 Million a year on the solar tax credits.

The state received almost $40 million in tax credit applications as a part of residents' 2015 tax returns, meaning around 3,000 residents will be out-of-pocket for up to half the cost of the already-purchased solar panels.

The law passed in June 2015 ordered the state Department of Revenue to approve the tax credits on a first-come, first-served basis, based on the date the application was filed, not when the solar systems were purchased. That means there are even some taxpayers who purchased systems before June 2015, when there was no cap on the tax credits, who won’t be able to collect a credit this year.

There is another $10 million in credits available for the 2016-2017 fiscal year and another $5 million in credits for 2017-2018, and the state says it will notify existing applicants if they are eligible for deferred claims in coming tax years.

But solar installation companies typically give their customers a year and a half to pay the full amount of the system without incurring finance charges, so those who purchased systems in 2015 will have to pay the full cost before the next round of tax credits comes available.

Also, the tax credit applications received by the state to date already exceed the entire amount of credits available for all three fiscal years by nearly $15 million, meaning as many as 1,500 taxpayers who have already applied are unlikely to ever get the state credits.

With that in mind, the state issued a statement Tuesday that “consumers purchasing residential solar energy systems from this point forward should not expect to receive tax credits from the state.”

