Solar Shifts, Tax Breaks & Smarter Ownership with Ryno Irwin

Watch or Listen to the full episode

Interview Transcription

ADRIENNE: 
Welcome back, and thanks for listening to the Team Lally real estate show, home of the guaranteed sold program, or we’ll buy it. I’m Adrienne and I’m Attilio, and if you have any questions, just give us a call at 7999596, or check us out online at Team lally.com Our guest

ATTILIO: 
today is a visionary leader and entrepreneur with deep roots in Hawaii. Since launching his first construction business in 2006 he’s built companies focus on innovation opportunity and making lasting differences across the islands.

ADRIENNE: 
Now, the owner and CEO of Hawaii Unified Industries. He focuses on sustainable growth, job creation and local impact. He’s also the co founder of Go Local Powur, promoting renewable energy solutions across Hawaii. Please welcome back our guest. Ryno Irwin,

ATTILIO: 
hey, Ryno,

RYNO: 
Aloha, aloha. Hear from you guys. Yes,

ADRIENNE: 
you too. So we heard that there’s some some pretty drastic changes that are happening on some federal tax credits and like that is some big news that we are excited to learn about. Yes, yes. Big

RYNO: 
news. Big news. You know, I always say, When is the best time to get solar yesterday. You Yeah. So the big, beautiful tax bill passed and was signed on July 4, and it definitely has been an industry shaker Yes. That will mean a lot of lot of different things for consumers. There’s a very short fuse for consumers now to purchase solar themselves, or to get a solar loan, so they have to be able to purchase it and get the system completely installed and turned on before the end of the year if they want to benefit from the federal tax

ATTILIO: 
credits and tell people what they are currently so The

RYNO: 
investment tax credit for solar is currently at 30% ITC so, so basically, it’s a 30% discount on the solar system. And so, yeah, again, the time is is really now to make it happen. There’s for all the companies that I know of, including our company, we’re only taking those those orders and contracts over the next 45 to 60 days, because that’s the timeline that we need to get the system

ATTILIO: 
make it done. Yeah, the year. So it’s fully installed, operational green for go before, before the before all the illegal fireworks hit the sky.

ADRIENNE: 
So right now, is this only for for residential, or does this also affect commercial as well, because, you know that we’re in that boat with

ATTILIO: 
the taxes are there for residential and commercial?

RYNO:
Yeah, so it’s, they call it the tax code is 20 5d so it’s, it’s basically residential now for commercial, solar, or what they’re calling is 40 8e. I think now, if you get a lease, the lease is still good for one full year till July 4, 2026, where full tax credits will apply within that lease. If you sign, if you sign that, you have to sign it by July 4, 2026, if you. Sign after that date, then the system needs to be installed by the end of 2027, to to preserve them

ATTILIO: 
well, on our office, you guys got to get over there today, put them up already.

RYNO: 
That’s That’s right. We need to get that puppy. Yeah, and I’m installed.

ATTILIO: 
Adrienne, are we serious? Yeah, we’re serious. It’s not rhetoric on the radio listeners. We are going to be taking the we’re not going to be what we talked about earlier, where we hear a bunch of advice and don’t execute on it. You know what that person’s called? So, yeah, seriously, Ryno, we want to get this stuff on our office.

ADRIENNE: 
He already has the design and let’s go. We just got to just, let’s go. Just do it. Let’s

RYNO: 
do it. You’re going, you’re going into permit. I

ATTILIO: 
want, like, 50. I want 50 Tesla batteries inside our back office. We’re gonna, like, we’re gonna power all of James Campbell industrial park where office is located. Yeah,

ADRIENNE: 
no, we’re just tired of that. Like, we say, about $550 a month. Let’s get rid of that bill

ATTILIO: 
and and we love the tax the tax wizard, credit debate, what’s the difference?

RYNO: 
Yes, No, exactly. So, yeah, you get a tax credit. So credit, so it so instead it’s $1 for dollar. So giving that dollar to the IRS, you get to actually claim it back as a credit, and so you can keep that dollar in your pocket.

ATTILIO: 
Yeah, we got, we got plenty taxes that we owe the IRS to write that off again. So it’d be nice to to not be giving that to the IRS, but putting it on

ADRIENNE:
our roof. So again, this, this goes away at the end of the year, is what you’re saying for the

ATTILIO: 
law that’s on the books now,

RYNO:
yes, yeah, yeah.

ATTILIO: 
And goes to zero. I thought it was supposed to be like 2035 so that that this tax bill changed that,

RYNO: 
yes, it changed. It was always it was put under a budget, you know, updated budget so they were able to make a change to that tax law during the budget revision.

ATTILIO: 
I know the tax bill that was put into place for so people that you understand why it’s not like the media didn’t like here’s all the 59 things that have changed. I know for a fact that tax bill, Ryno, would you like to guess how many pages that tax bill is? Because I do know.

RYNO:
I think I heard it was 504 is my office. You have a

ATTILIO: 
504 five and four? Do I have a 600 600 600 707 700-700-1750 800 sold 800 pages. 800 pages because there was, was a forgot what I think was NPR or something, but there was a correspondent. She read it, oh, because they were interviewing her, and all the different things that are on there. The big thing, the big thing with that one was all the public radio, public broadcasting that got the El Chapo and but 800 pages, and you’re bringing to us something most important, because in Hawaii, Adrienne, what is the second biggest payment that families are making right after their mortgage?

ADRIENNE: 
Well, if it’s single family, it’s usually going to be the electric bill maintenance fees.

ATTILIO: 
Have good electric bill. It’s the electric bill because we don’t like being sweaty monkeys in the summer. And so we’re gonna have that big, huge electric bill, yeah. And so this is, this is very pertinent, very relative information for right now.

ADRIENNE: 
So right now with Hawaii unified and go local power, I know last time we talked, you had mentioned something about, like, having some new financing options that were coming to fruition. What like? Yeah, well, available.

ATTILIO: 
There’s a junk monkey firing off in the listener’s brain right now. Like, I can’t afford solar. They even say, like that, you’re from Alabama, I can’t afford solar. What’s your response to that? And you have to say, like, You’re from

RYNO: 
Alabama, she can

RYNO: 
so what’s the deal? So, so we do have zero down solar for a loan for, like I said, the next 30 to 45 days, depending how fast our pipeline gets full, yeah, make sure that we can get it installed and turned on for the end of the year. And then we do have a lease. So we have zero down lease that will carry us through, like I said, over the next year plus to be able to help our customers still benefit from this tax credit that is still in, you know, still can be preserved through our financial solutions that we have available to all.

ATTILIO: 
Yeah, maybe they don’t have the credit. Can a qualifier this or that, or whatever, you can still do the lease. Correct me if I’m wrong, right? And when you do a lease, you’re just like, fixing your electric bill at a certain amount. I mean, that’s the simplest way explain it.

RYNO: 
That’s 100% Yeah. So here’s the other thing with this. You know, with these changes in the solar industry, guess who’s who’s just lost their their big competition? Guess who’s gonna go? Bold? Who’s gonna go boy. Price increases. Price increases no longer competitive. You know, competitions not. It beating down their door. Our utility, yep. So now they have, you know, there’s, they basically have free reign to increase rates, and there’s gonna be options. Yeah,

ADRIENNE: 
yes. I felt like they just increased it just recently, and then they made these little surge. Well, I

ATTILIO:
mean you, Hello, folks. Let’s do the math if more and more people are putting on solar so you have a subscriber to the system that’s paying $800 a month. That’s Adrienne at her house with her kids playing computers 12 hours a day, running my AC and running the AC 24/7, all the lights home in the house. I go over there, I like, get my slippers and start slapping kids and saying, shut the stuff off if you’re not paying for them. And then CPS shows up. It’s a big mess, no, but the bottom here’s the bottom line. Do the math, folks, they’re a public utility, and they’re required to provide utilities to I don’t know what is it? 500 households. 100,500 excuse me, 500,000 I’m off a couple zeros on Oahu night or day, seven days a week. And if more and more subscribers are getting solar and their electric bill went, their contribution to the system went from $800 to $30 you got to do the math

ADRIENNE: 
is that. What’s happening right now? They’re just increasing because there’s less people that are paying in, they

ATTILIO: 
have to still offset their

RYNO: 
loss. Yeah, there’s many reasons. And our grid, you know that, yeah, yeah. So we have, you know, frequent power outages that all needs to be upgraded. So that’s 10s of millions of dollars every year that’s got to go out. Yeah? So, yeah, someone’s got to pay for it, and it’s gonna it’s the ratepayers, Yeah, unfortunately, it’s our residents. So

ATTILIO: 
yeah, and we, yeah, and I know there, from my, from my studying of it too, that, you know, we have, what is it? How many different grids there are? There’s Hawaii,

ADRIENNE: 
there’s there’s, I think Texas has its own. Texas

ATTILIO:
is standalone, and then you got what EAST and WEST I mean, is that how the US is broken up, then is Alaska? Alaska is not tied into anything. Are they stand alone too? I think they’re a standalone grid. Yeah, yeah. So for and then, and then within the state of Hawaii, we’re correct me, if I’m wrong, there’s no big, no more extension cord that goes to Big Island to Oahu, right? No extension cord. No on the Molokai channel, yeah, yeah. So we are standalone in the individual island. So that’s a lot of requirement or stress on a system, self contained on an island. Thank goodness we’re not like, I think Puerto Rico, they were like, out for their, you their their stuff was so antiquated. It was. They’re still running stuff today from the 50s and they were out for like, a year. Just imagine your electricity is out for a year. I would like that, because then there would be no more Wi Fi and all that

ADRIENNE: 
stuff. So speaking of that right now, with the solar, yeah, you guys are always adding the battery as part of the whole installation. You

ATTILIO: 
have to do the battery now, right? You kind of just know, battery, yeah,

RYNO: 
yeah, yeah. You got

RYNO: 
to use the battery. And the battery helps provide, you know, that energy independence. So if the grid goes down, you have battery backup power. You know, it’s a critical part of it. And so, yes, it’s definitely the way that you can get your own energy resiliency and energy independence

ADRIENNE: 
with the battery, is there, is there any kind of tax credits with that, or is it all lumped in together under the solar tax credit?

RYNO: 
That’s great question. Wow. Adrienne is either done or research or just asked some amazing questions. But yes, the battery is tax credit is preserved, and that’s a good point, and the strategic reason why this administration did not mess with the tax credit on the batteries, because it’s essential to the grid and the stability of the grid across the country and Hawaii as well. Yeah,

ATTILIO: 
because I think the objective, long range, I mean, green energy is not this administrative objective, but the objective, regardless of the administration, is to decentralize power generation, right? And just have more and more homes with solar generating their own power. That way it’s less burden on the system. And that, I know that’s an objective, but the bat. The batteries typically for a basic three bedroom, two bath house. For these batteries, like, if you if, if we’re in, if we’re in a blackout, how long will the batteries support your home, so long as you’re not like Bitcoin mining at your house?

RYNO: 
Yeah, and it’s all depends on what your usage is, yeah. You know, you always want to design the batteries to be at minimum, to carry you through the night, so you’re not having to rely on, you know, the HECO grid, and then when the sun comes back up, it recharges the batteries for you and provides power. But you know, it is a good, viable option to add additional battery backup power for those. Instances where we do have storms and things like that, yeah, have some extra energy stored for that resiliency.

ADRIENNE:
Gotcha. So right now, like we’ve been talking with you about this tax change, the credits and the importance of solar, our listeners are like, Okay, how do I get a hold of this? How do I make an appointment?

ATTILIO: 
Because thinking, give us stuff. They’re like, yelling whatever. I know nobody sits in front of a radio, but maybe on their phone, because they’re listening to it on iTunes, they’re yelling at their phone. Give us the phone number. What’s the best phone

RYNO: 
number? Best best phone number? If is, I’ll give you mine right now. This is a call to urgency. Yes, it’s

RYNO: 
808283199. 82831991,

RYNO: 
all I ask is that you text me. I will text you back. I’ll help you out. I’ll get you set up with our team. You won’t have to, you know, have all these sales people telling you knocking on your door. We’ll be able to get a copy of your bill, run it for you and give you a quote turned around in 24 to 48 hours, and then we can help you get, you know, capture these tax credits while they’re still in play.

ATTILIO: 
Well, we here’s late. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah. 808-283-1991, well, hey, the good news is, and we’ll help you your local company. We know it’s 808, Okay, folks, you got it, you got it 808? It’s 808 because they local. They read in my elite

ADRIENNE: 
thing that we forgot to touch on that they’re not going anywhere. They’re not going anywhere because around forever and they’re not going

ATTILIO:
anywhere because the sub name of every other solar company in Hawaii over the last years is called, here, today, gone tomorrow. They door knock, jam it out, blast all these systems through the all of the islands, and then you call them up for service, and they’re gone. Doo. Doo. Doo is what the number says. Not Ryno and Ryno and his family. They live in our community. They give back to our community, support our community. So that number, again, for you people that was like my pan ran out of in 283199128319911, more time. 2831991, if you didn’t anyone, 1991 if you didn’t get it after all of that, you Oh, boy, we got some other Yeah,

ADRIENNE:
just give, give Ryno a call. Text him, call him like, get it done now, because time is not on your side.

ATTILIO: 
And Ryno, my house needs some solar panels ASAP also. And I’m very serious, yeah, go, yeah. Let’s go. Yeah.

ADRIENNE: 
All right. Well, we are coming to the end of our show, but thank you Ryno, as always, for coming on and educating us and bringing this to our attention.

ATTILIO: 
I think we need to make sure that for the next couple of weeks, with time ticking, that we’re gonna call you for at least a two minute update. All right, thank you Ryno. All right. Take care. Aloha, aloha.

Follow Us On Social Media