Solar Incentives for Washington State

Nov. 2005

Federal:

30% tax credit for systems brought on line in 2006, and 2007 with a cap of $2,000 for homes and no cap for businesses.  Solar hot water systems are also eligible.

Green Tags:

Earn $.05/kWh for everything your PV system produces for the next 5 years by selling your system’s environmental attributes (bragging rights), as green tags, to Cascade Solar Consulting.  Go to www.cascadesolar.com for more info.

State:         

Sales Tax Exemption

By state law the 8.8% sales tax is waved on purchase of the PV equipment and the installation of a PV system. This is in WA state law and is good until 2011.  Legislation was passed in 2006 to include Solar hot water.

Net Metering

Required under federal law and defined by WA state law.  Net metering requires utilities to allow homeowners to hook solar, wind and micro hydro systems up to the grid. This results in "turning the meter backwards". Credit is drawn upon when the system does not produce for the home's needs (evening and winter months).

Utilities:

Production Incentive Payments

A bill was past by the Washington legislature in 2005 that authorizes utilities to pay $.15/kWh for every kWh a solar and/or wind system produces from July 1, 2005 to July 1, 2014. This is voluntary on the part of the utility and we are waiting to hear which utilities sign on. The money comes from the state utility tax. If you buy an inverter manufactured in Washington state the $.15 is boosted to $.18/kWh. If you buy panels made in WA you can add $.36/kWh to the .15 or $.18/kWh.

The hitch here is that there are currently no panels made in Washington.  We believe there will be within 2-3 years thanks to SB5111, which gives B&O tax breaks to a company that builds a PV manufacturing plant in WA so stay tuned.

Check with your local utilities about additional offers. Puget Sound Energy offers customers an up front rebate for the cost of installation of $525/kW to $600/kW depending on what county you live in. Chelan PUD's innovative SNAP program has been the leader in the state at assisting their customers in generating renewable power. 

Also see these links for more resources:

            Washington Incentives for Renewable Energy (http://www.dsireusa.org/library/includes/map2.cfm?Current%20PageID=1&State=WA) for more info.