Hawaii Administrative Rules
Title 18 - DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION
Chapter 235 - INCOME TAX LAW
Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 18-235-12.5-01 - Definitions

(1) "Actual cost" means the amounts incurred or paid for renewable energy technology systems under section 235-12.5(a), HRS, including peripheral equipment ordinarily and necessarily required for system operation and installation. Actual cost shall not include any consumer incentive payments or premiums offered with the system, regardless of when such payment or premium is made to the customer, and shall not include any amount for which another credit is claimed under chapter 235, HRS. Any amounts incurred or paid for the repair, construction, or reconstruction of a structure or building in conjunction with the installation and placing in service of a solar or wind energy system shall not constitute a part of actual cost for the purposes of section 235-12.5, HRS.

(2) "Commercial property" means a property which cannot be properly characterized as residential or mixed-use property. A hotel, or any other place in which lodgings are regularly furnished to transients for consideration, in which all of the rooms, apartments, suites, or the like are occupied by a transient for less than one hundred eighty consecutive days for each letting will be considered commercial property to the extent of that use.

(3) "Installed and placed in service" means that the system is ready and available for its specific use. With respect to systems installed for residential property, all requirements will be completed and a system will be deemed to be installed and placed in service when:

(4) "Mixed-use property" means a property on which at least one residence exists and commercial activity takes place.

(5) "Multi-family residential property" means a property on which more than one residence is located. The determination that property is multi-family residential property is fact specific, but in general and in the absence of other relevant facts to the contrary, multi-family residential property will be real property that is described in a recorded title and that has more than one mailing address or separate entrances to separate living areas. The following exceptions may apply:

(6) "Property" means a single, definable portion of real property located in the State as described in a title recorded with the Bureau of Conveyances or Land Court of the state of Hawaii and that the applicable law allows to be sold in fee simple separately from any other real property located in the State. For purposes of the Renewable Energy Technologies Income Tax Credit under section 235-12.5, HRS, all such titled property in the State is to be characterized as commercial, residential, or a mix of the two (mixed-use). When special circumstances exist, the department, at its discretion, may determine whether an interest qualifies as a "property" for the purposes of the credit on a case-by-case basis.

(7) "Renewable energy technology system" means a new system that captures and converts a renewable source of energy, such as solar or wind energy, into a usable source of thermal or mechanical energy, electricity, or fuel.

(8) "Residence" means dwelling place or place of habitation, an abode.

(9) "Single-family residential property" means a property on which one residence is located.

(10) "Standard Test Conditions" means 25 degrees Celsius cell/module temperature, 1,000 watts per square meter (W/m2) irradiance, air mass 1.5(AM 1.5) spectrum.

(11) "Total output capacity" means the combined individual output capacities (maximum power) of all identifiable facilities, equipment, apparatus or the like that make up the renewable energy technology system installed and placed in service during a taxable year measured in kilowatts. The total output capacity of a solar energy system shall be calculated using the manufacturer's published specifications of the components of the solar energy system. Generally, for photovoltaic solar energy systems, total output capacity is the output capacity (maximum power) of each cell, module or panel at Standard Test Conditions in kilowatts multiplied by the number of cells, modules or panels installed and placed into service during a taxable year. The amount of energy actually produced is not relevant to calculating total output capacity.