If you have been contemplating a solar installation for your home or business, but weren’t sure whether the incentives would be there to help finance the investment — your wait is over, as new solar incentives in Washington state officially become available tomorrow.
That’s because the Washington state House and Senate today passed legislation that had become known as the Solar Jobs Bill as part of their $43.7 billion state budget package, which came after multiple special sessions and narrowly averted a partial shutdown of state services.
“We didn’t just pass a bill,” Bonnie Frye Hemphill, campaign director of Keep WA Solar Strong, said in a statement. “Together, we built a community of 10,000 people passionate about clean energy and energy independence.”
The bill replaces outdated incentives for solar owners with a new program designed to boost incentive caps for public utilities, who can make their incentives available to homes and business in their districts. The bill offers a new incentive payment schedule for solar owners that starts at $0.16 per kilowatt hour (kWh) and adds bonuses for systems with solar panels manufactured in Washington state.
While more details about the new solar incentive program will become available in the coming days — and it will take some time for various utilities to put their incentive packages together — owners of homes and businesses in Washington state should know that they can move forward with plans to go solar with the support of incentives that officially become available July 1.
If you are interested in exploring the installation of a solar system tied to the grid of your local electric utility in Washington state, drop us a note on our contact page or give us a call at (800) 696-8935.
Photo credit: Jim Bowen