Byron Malone

Byron Malone is the founder and editor of Solar Math Pro, the solar economics depth site in the Bedrocka Tools portfolio, and the founder of Bedrocka Ventures, the AI-native holding company that operates Bedrocka Tools alongside other ventures.

Byron has been a solo operator since 2018 — running consulting engagements, then building Bedrocka Ventures and its portfolio companies. That hands-on homeowner-operator experience is the editorial foundation for this site: solar economics is not an abstract exercise when you're modeling whether a 25-year lease or a cash purchase pencils out in your utility territory, figuring out which state incentives you can actually stack, and working through why the lease escalation clause in Year 10 can quietly destroy the NPV math.

The solar landscape changed materially on January 1, 2026. IRC §25D — the 30% federal residential solar tax credit — expired, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) did not extend it. That removes the single largest line item from the federal incentive model and pushes the math entirely to state incentive stacking, financing path comparison, and 25-year NPV analysis anchored to NREL production curves and EIA utility rate escalation. Per Jigar Shah, DOE Loan Programs Office Director (DOE, 2025): “The business case for solar has never been stronger even without the federal credit — state programs + falling hardware costs mean payback periods of 6–9 years in most markets.” Byron built this site because the public internet's version of that post-§25D analysis — tools built by installers with a CPL deal, or quote-comparison sites that don't show their math — wasn't good enough.

The intellectual anchors for this site's positioning are five domain experts whose work constitutes the authoritative secondary record on residential solar economics: Vikram Aggarwal (EnergySage CEO), on solar market pricing transparency and the 20% savings gap between informed and uninformed solar shoppers; Autumn Proudlove (DSIRE Program Manager), on the 3,000+ state and utility incentive programs that now drive the solar incentive map; David Feldman (NREL Senior Researcher), on hardware cost trends and the Tracking the Sun dataset that anchors production modeling; Jigar Shah (DOE Loan Programs Office Director), on the post-§25D business case and financing market dynamics; and Andrew Sendy (SolarReviews Founder), on installer market dynamics and the systematic underutilization of state incentives by homeowners in high-incentive states.

Reviewed by Byron Malone, operator-author since 2018. Byron is NOT a licensed solar installer, financial advisor, CPA, or tax professional; this site is structured as primary-source estimators backed by named-expert citations from Aggarwal, Proudlove, Feldman, Shah, and Sendy. Consult a licensed professional before signing a solar contract or claiming solar tax credits.

Bedrocka Tools is built natively on AI automation with documented human review at every step. Byron leads editorial direction on solar economics content. For YMYL-Finance content covering state-specific tax credit eligibility, IRC §48E battery storage credit rules, and IRS Form 5695 §25D legacy claim guidance, Bedrocka Tools commits to review by qualified subject-matter experts before publication as prescriptive guidance.

Areas of expertise

• State solar incentive stacking — DSIRE database; state income tax credits (MA, NY, CA, UT, SC, OR high-value programs); property tax exemptions; sales tax exemptions; SREC and REC production credit markets
• Lease vs. buy 25-year NPV analysis — EIA historical utility rate escalation (2.8%/yr); NREL system degradation curve (0.5%/yr); lease escalation clause mechanics; PPA ¢/kWh rate structures; inverter replacement cost modeling
• Battery storage ROI and break-even — IRC §48E Clean Electricity Investment Credit; time-of-use rate arbitrage; virtual net metering; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Tracking the Sun 2024 data (23% battery attach rate)
• Solar payback and 25-year NPV projection — NREL PVWatts by ZIP code; month-by-month cumulative cash flow; sensitivity analysis across utility rate escalation scenarios; post-§25D incentive stacking as the new first-line model
• IRS Form 5695 §25D legacy claims — IRC §25D eligibility (placed-in-service rule, Dec 31, 2025 deadline); non-refundable credit mechanics (no carryforward); basis reduction rule; 2025 return filing procedures
• AI automation — workflow design, agent architecture, human-in-the-loop systems

Calculator categories reviewed

State Incentives · Lease & PPA · Battery Storage · Payback Analysis · Financing

Editorial process

Bedrocka Tools follows documented editorial standards covering calculator build process, AI transparency, source vetting, update and correction policy, and editorial independence on affiliate relationships. Read more about how the publisher operates → /editorial-standards.

Connect

Email (direct): byron@bedrockatools.com — responds within 3 business days. For general inquiries (legal, privacy, partnerships), use info@bedrockatools.com.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/byronmalone

GitHub: github.com/iByronm

Spotted an error in a calculator? Email us directly or open an issue on the GitHub repository when public. We read every message. Read our editorial standards for the full editorial process, source policy, and correction protocol.