Category Archives: Solar

2019 Legislative Session – Review

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The 2019 State Legislature passed 2 new laws related to Solar. The bills promoted renewables in Washington State and sought to create greater confidence in interactions between multiple entities. Adopting solar now has its advantages, however if you must wait, a new Sales tax exemption will sweeten a solar contract drafted in 45 days or so.

The Solar Fairness Act pertains principally to Net Metering. Get credit for all the electricity you generate. Some utilities in our state had exceeded the legal threshold and therefore were under no obligation to grant credits to new participants . Now we can all interact with greater confidence. The existing state law threshold was very low. This new legislation raised it from .5% to 4% (or June 30, 2029 – whichever comes first). Here is the Solar Installer of WA’s bill digest. Way to go solar citizen lobbyists!

100% Clean Electricity Act. This ambitious 100% clean electricity mandate is a source of celebration for Governor Inslee and progressives. The framework propels a grid that uses clean renewable power. Within this law we have now established a Sales Tax exemption and a Remittance structure for various sizes of installations. See the savings on your solar contracts and invoices for the next decade. (Project must be completed by Dec. 31, 2029)

  1. Pay No Sales Tax: Solar electric systems ≤ 100kW installed after July 1, 2019. An overwhelming majority of solar projects are in this category.
  2. Partial Remittance: Solar systems over 100kW installed after Jan. 1, 2020.

Please refer to this Solar Installer of WA recap for more details on these new laws.

Solar at work!

Using the Sun’s Energy: 19th, 20th, and 21st Century Solar

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by Paige Heggie, Solar Estimator, info@paigeheggie.com

Imagine a little emerging town called Los Angeles in the 1800s. Olive trees line the streets, horse drawn carriages bring burlap-ed ice blocks to old iceboxes, and rooftop metal pipe system provides hot water to your home. “Sunshine, like Salvation, is free” was a motto of the early solar thermal companies.

Using the knowledge that the sun can heat metal, pipes were placed in the sun’s path 100+ years ago to provide heated water options. One Los Angeles company, Night and Day Solar, perfected a temperature regulated distribution by adding tanks to these early systems. Solar thermal (or solar hot water) is not the same as solar electric, but the concept is similar: that is, use what we have, because as they advertised back then “sunshine is free!”

In the mid 1900’s, cheap natural gas as well as coal-fired electricity, interrupted the wholesale adoption of solar thermal.
In the Pacific Northwest, utilities built huge hydroelectric dams to harness and sell energy cheaply.

Hydroelectric dam power replaces any need for Solar Hot Water

20th C Hydroelectric dam power replaces any need for Solar Hot Water

While the solar hot water companies of the early 20th Century were petering out, scientists worldwide were researching ways to catalyze materials with sunlight to create electricity. Both by accident and on purpose, photovoltaic technology was being formulated into the efficient, useful technology that it is today. In 1905, Albert Einstein pioneered the discussion of the photo electric effect, and his work in that field won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921. The aspirations to create “photo voltaic” energy (meaning “light power”) were becoming a reality.

Bell Laboratories introduced practical solar cells in the 50’s. Bell Labs was a group of science and technology think tanks that had mushroomed out of Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone. Due to their work, solar electric panels became commercially available, and over the decades, size, color, and design changes have been made as well.

Solar has experienced many spikes in interest and advancement over the last couple centuries. There is growing awareness of the atmospheric detriment of carbon based energy, and we are no longer insulated from those costs. Solar photovoltaic panels (also known as “solar electric” or “solar PV”) are a simple “plug and play” application that are increasingly favored by governments, businesses, and homeowners.

The basic technology of photovoltaics has been here for 60+ years, and having a time-tested, renewable energy system on your property is easier than ever. Just remember: the sun, “like Salvation”, is free!

100 Y O Craftsman gets Solar Electric for the next 50 Y

100 Y O Craftsman gets Solar Electric for the next 50 Y

Sources:
-The Integral Passive Solar Water Heater Book
-A Golden Thread : 2500 years of Solar Architecture and Technology by K. Butti and J. Perlin
-Wikipedia – various.

How will Gov. Inslee’s Carbon Reduction Executive Order impact Solar Industry in WA State?

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Our Washington State Governor has issued an Executive Order aimed at reducing Carbon emissions! Carbon is beneficial element, but too much is just dirty and it densifies the atmospheric layers. It comes from tailpipes and smokestacks.  It is a “greenhouse gas: that traps the sun’s heat in the atmosphere. The sun’s rays bean through the atmosphere to the earth, but the resulting heat cannot escape, because carbon molecules are increasing in the air and heat does not vent up and out anymore

The Executive announcement came Tuesday April 30 at Shoreline Community College. They host the Annual Solar Fest. Sometimes there is free Ice Cream, thanks to generous Silicon Energy – a WA state solar manufacturer! The Governor stood with stakeholders and students and announced his plan.

The plan is spelled out here: Climate Policy Paper.    

The Carbon Pollution Reduction and Clean Energy Action will be on the minds of those attending the 2014 NW Solar Summit this weekend. That is because the Executive Order aims to reduce dependence on coal and change to cleaner energy. Coal = Carbon. Solar = Clean Air.

Solar is a convenient, clean, scalable source of power. The Governor is supporting solar. It has been a long road, but it is looking good for the local consumer and the upstart state-based solar industry that serves them.

brightwater treatment facility The 2014 NW Solar Summit is May 2nd and 3rd at Brightwater Wastewater Treatment Facility.

Here’s a photo of Brightwater —->

It is an upscale modern center. You can get married there. P.S. It doesn’t stink like “waste”.

The Center has Solar panels on their roof!

Solar on Brightwater

Some State Utilities will be at the Summit this weekend. Electrician Unions (IBEW Local 46 and 191) have sponsored. The Dep’t of Commerce is also a sponsor. So is a trade group that my employer is a member of: Solar Installers of WA.

Another sponsor is WSU, which Inslee stated will work with DOC to develop a smart building program aimed at boosting the “energy performance of public and private buildings”.

The goal is to further clean energy in Washington. And personally I would like to see the money stay in-state rather than export our investment and incentives outside Washington.Solar Array on small barn workshop Often that is what happens when Investors try and collect big chunks of state *Solar Incentive* money.

WA Dept of Commerce has its work cut out for it. What we do here might be different than the standard approach. The usual approach to Solar expansion is to raise the cap on payout to the owners of Solar arrays (systems). Investors also like the allowance for Third Party to own the panels and therefore receive ownership incentive$. This is a platform used to entice Solar leasing companies, aka Investors, to a state that wants a quick ramp-up of Solar.

The state wants to deploy for solar and the goal is consumer protection and advantage.

Rainmakers + Solar = Rainbow$

Rain + Solar = Rainbow (Brackett’s Landing North, Edmonds, WA

The Solar Consumer has it very good in WA. At the Solar Summit this weekend the group will be trying for more of that good stuff. No matter how much we squeeze down an ROI, the source of power is already free of charge.

The future is looking pretty bright for Solar here. Email me today for a free evaluation of your site! info@paigeheggie.com                                                                                  Thanks, Paige

Western WA Day

This home uses Renewable Energy. Tied to the Grid.

2012 Mother Earth News Fair – Puyallup, WA

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The Mother Earth News Fair doesn’t just pitch a tent anywhere. Considerations include: local readership of the Mother Earth News magazine and available vendors, exhibitors, and venue. Those planets aligned in Pierce County, Washington at the Puyallup Fairgrounds on June 2nd and 3rd,  2012.

Started the Saturday with a little fenestration discussion. I took in a solar education by South Sound Solar.

Attended a Pierce County presentations on neighborhood rain gardens. Another highlight included whimsy and color: Tiny Houses.

Lucky enough to run into the Editor of Mother Earth News, Cheryl Long! My pressing question? “What happened to the beer garden?” In 2011 I met Dave Buhler of Elysian Brewing at the garden. I bet some day they’ll have a solar-powered brewery – like their friends at New Belgium Brewing!

Update: Happy to report that 2013 HAD a beer garden. So at the very end of the 2013 Fair I was able to sit and talk to radio personalities, authors, beekeepers, and California Cob house constructors.

Always fun at the MEN Fair!