No, you do not write off the payments you make for your energy-efficient improvements.
If the improvement qualifies for the energy credit, you can claim the credit based on the total cost of the improvement, not just the amount that was paid in the current tax year to satisfy the debt.
So if you still owe on the debt, you can’t write off the debt for the credit? It has to be paid in full in order to receive the credit?
No, when you took out the loan, the amount was considered to be paid in full. You can claim the credit on the total cost of the improvement for the year that the improvement was installed and the year you got the loan to pay the cost.
If it was installed in 2022 and qualifies for the credit, claim the credit on your 2022 tax return based on the total cost of the improvement, not just based on the amount that you have paid back so far.
Then, in later years while you are still paying back that cost over time, you will not enter anything on your tax return because you already claimed the credit based on the total cost.