Washington State Solar Legislation Update
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Washington State Solar Legislation Update

by | Jan 11, 2016 | Solar Legislation, Solar Power

NEW WASHINGTON STATE SOLAR LEGISLATION IS BEING INTRODUCED THIS WEEK IN OLYMPIA

Washington State Solar Legislation Update

HB 2346 Expands Washington State Solar Incentives

IT’S TIME!

Last month, the U.S. Congress extended the 30% federal tax credit.

Now, Washingtonians have a unique opportunity to both extend and expand the Washington State Production Incentive. HB 2346 will be introduced in the Washington State Legislature Tuesday, January 12th at 10 a.m. (tomorrow)! This bill has the goal of increasing installed solar in WA from 60 MW to 200 MW by 2020.

Please email or call your legislators THIS WEEK asking them to support HB 2346!

This is the link to the actual bill: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2016&bill=2346

This is how you find your legislator: http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

Quick Summary:

HB 2346 does two things:

  • Protects the incentive rate for current solar customers
  • Creates a new solar program for future customers
Highlights:

Protect and Expand:

  • HB 2346 protects existing solar customers and funds future customers by quadrupling the amount of utility monies available for the Washington production incentive until 2020.

Modified Incentive Rates to Maximize Solar Growth:

  • HB 2346 starts a new solar program for new customers. It offers a reduced (but still robust) in-state production incentive rate. This will stretch the program funds while maintaining a higher incentive for using components manufactured in-state.
  • HB 2346 allows new customers to receive a guaranteed 10-year incentive at the rate that’s current when they enter the program.
  • HB 2346 steps down the incentive rate each year for new installations between 2016 and 2020. The program ends in 2020.

Increase State Revenues:

  • New solar customers will pay Washington State sales tax for their solar PV systems.

House Bill 2346 is sponsored by Reps. Jeff Morris and Norma Smith, and was introduced in the House Committee on Technology & Economic Development (TED). The bill will start in the House TED Committee, then go to the Finance Committee where members will look at (and justify) its costs and benefits. If accepted, it will end up in the Rules Committee. Then it heads over to the Senate to undergo the same process.

 

Washington State Solar Legislation Update

HB 2346 Expands Solar Incentives for Commercial Customers

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