Washington doing solar the right way

Ah, it's sorta like a feed-in tariff like what Germany has. Just a MUCH lower rate for energy put into the grid. It's a pretty good start.

 

WOW!!!
The law provides a payment of 15 cents for every kilowatt-hour of electricity that backyard producers have sent into the grid.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/277105_solar11.html

In California, the recently passed California Solar Initiative (provides $2.8 billion in incentives for solar projects of all sizes over the next 11 years. The objective is to bring 3,000 megawatts of solar energy online, enough to power about 3 million homes.) currently provides for a rebate of $2.50 per watt of installed solar panel plus California law provides for one for one net metering.

MAN! If we had 15 cents for every kilowatt-hour produced, everyone would max-out considering the amount of sunshine here in California.
I'm guessing the 15 cents for every kilowatt-hour is to make up for cloudy conditions in Washington. Anyone who is planning to take advantage of the Washington program should make sure the built-in limitations don't bite you in the butt.

(11) What are the limitations on the incentive payments?
No individual, business, or local governmental entity is
eligible for incentive payments in excess of two thousand
dollars per year. However, . . . [if you own a business . . .]

The issuing of incentive payments by participating light
and power businesses is limited by the greater of:
(a) Twenty-five one hundredths of one percent (0.25%) of
the light and power business' prior year's taxable sales under
Washington state's law; or
(B) Twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00).
Based on this public utility tax credit limitation, your
and all other qualifying customers' incentive payments may be
proportionally reduced.
http://dor.wa.gov/Docs/Rules/draft/cr102_20_273.pdf

In the PG&E areas in California, the current limitations are about to take affect unless the rules are changed.

The California Energy Commission urged PG&E in March to support raising its cap. A new bill, AB 2993, authored by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, is currently under review by the Assembly; it would raise the cap from 96 megawatts to 200 megawatts.
While that won't help for long, the idea is to buy time to come up with a statewide solution to the problem of net-metering caps, solar backers say.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2...ies/03local.htm

PG&E's share of the 3,000 megawatts of solar power provided for with the California Solar Initiative will be closer to 1,000 megawatts, not 200. <_<

 

If I recall in California Businesses can get up to 30% rebate but home owners are limited to $2,000. Since the system runs about $20,000-$30,000 I haven't been hurrying to install. I don't have the money.

And now PG&E is trying to kill net metering. If they do that there's no point in installing solar. I think my local SDG&E has reached it's net metering cap too.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Jul 13 2006, 02:27 AM) [snapback]285521[/snapback]</div>

There's a federal tax credit of $2k as well. Also, the rebate of $2.50 per Watt. So about half the cost of the system is covered. $20-$30K is a pretty big system. Depending on your needs it may not make sense to install such a system. You can go a long way on a 1.5 kW system if your house is efficient.

 

another great example of WA state being green. there have been many threads talking about how many Priuses one sees on a daily basis. i usually see well over 100 per day and have been for quite a while.

Wa state mandated several years ago to use alternative fuel vehicles for all government sponsored fleets which accounts for the large numbers of Priuses here. we always see that Ca leads in consumer sales, but if all sales were included along with the percentage of hybrids on the road today, i think WA state's percentage would be much higher

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Jul 13 2006, 03:27 AM) [snapback]285521[/snapback]</div>

When I checked into it recently, it was (up to) 50% for residential installation, and no such cap. Maybe it's specific to the provider?