Washington State Offers Renewable Energy Incentive

Washington Governor Christine Gregoire has signed a bill that calls for paying individuals, businesses, and local governments 15 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity produced by off-grid solar panels, wind turbines, and anaerobic digesters. The incentive rises to up to 54 cents per kWh if certain components are manufactured in Washington. The incentive is capped at $2,000 per applicant per year. The State will extend the incentive to grid-tied systems once more utilities have adopted uniform interconnection standards. Denis Hayes, former director of the Solar Energy Research Institute and current president of the Bullitt Foundation, described the bill as “the most important solar legislation ever introduced in any American state legislature.” The bill took effect on July 1, 2005, and is slated to continue through June 2014. The bill is online at www.leg.wa.gov (search for bill 5101).