Tag Archives: Olympia WA

Solar Installation: Off-Grid vs. Grid-Tied

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Thinking of installing solar? How will you employ the usage of the sun’s power?

Will your system be closed loop Off-Grid; or will it be a back & forth Grid-Tied system?

Here is a description of these two available options.

Off-Grid

Historically, solar installations were viewed as an off-grid project. If the power company’s lines didn’t drop to your property, you could use solar to make your own electricity.

If your property is remote, or you have a desire to be fully or partially autonomous, you can still capture and keep your solar energy on site. This will require batteries and storage technology. The solar panels fill the battery with power and that electricity will be available for use. Sizing of the solar system, the dynamics of power generation, and storage capacity become considerations. Professionals such as myself can help you plan for this circumstance.

Grid-Tied

This is the most popular form of solar adoption. Installations are connected to the available electrical grid. Such interconnection offers reliability and convenience. Use the solar power you are creating and/or use the grid power when needed.

Owners of grid-tied systems are recognized by local utilities as Customer Generators. Your solar installation powers your own property as well as others, via the grid’s utility lines. As a Customer Generator, you will give the grid electricity when you are producing more than you can use. Then, later in the day, or later in the year, you will be able to use that 1:1 corresponding solar credit. This benefit is considered an important Incentive, and states without the incentive experience less solar adoption by utility customers.

In WA State we have a law that protects solar properties from ever being denied a 1:1 Credit for power they send to the grid. It is known as the Solar Fairness Act and this Net Metering Law protects Customer Generators. My blog post on the 2019 Legislative session. 

Battery Back-up

If you have a grid-tied system and you would like clean, quiet power generation when the grid is out of commission, you have the option of adding batteries. Installing batteries at the same time you add the solar means that you can apply the Solar Investment Tax Credit to that cost as well. There may be a future savings depending upon how your utility bills you for electricity. In the NW, residential power delivery is most vulnerable in the Wintertime. Those are the shortest and darkest days. Therefore the battery storage must be sized aggressively enough to have the capacity needed to power the desired loads.

2017 Status of Solar PV State Incentives – Washington, USA

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Washington State has a steady, sustainable solar industry. The solar systems that you see on the region’s rooftops were most likely installed by homegrown solar contractors. Contractors utilize an emerging labor force with journeyman electrical certifications. The components are manufactured here or sourced from local distributors. Installing solar in WA State supports local jobs, the local economy, and of course the local environment.

Recently it became apparent that the Incentives put in place in 2007 were well used but becoming exhausted. Electric utilities, solar entities, and various community supporters joined together in an effort to pass a Solar Jobs Bill in 2018. There was much deliberation in this year’s Special Session, something the insiders like to call a “solarcoaster”. Yet in the wee hours of the session’s final night, the Legislature did pass the Solar Jobs Bill (SB 5939).

The terms of this Bill’s new Incentive package took effect October 1 and therefore gives solar a pathway forward. As an avowed environmentalist and local solar estimator, it is encouraging to see the state banking on solar! We always can and should do better, and allowing people the opportunity to create renewable energy at the source is wisdom in action.