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There are 800 member-owned electrical co-ops in the USA. 40 million people get their power from an Electric Co-op! Principally in rural areas, these Cooperatives cover 56% of the populated land mass in the 50 states.
Rural Electric Cooperatives began in 1876. They are consumer-owned, non-profit utilities. FDR’s New Deal created work projects in the 1930s and this brought electricity to rural areas. In 1942 the rural electrical co-ops of WA State formed a coalition. To this day the WRECA represent those member co-ops in Olympia.
Ratepayers to the Co-ops are not customers, they are owners. They have a say in the supply of electricity. Lately these member-owners have been interested in local renewables like wind and solar. Grid resiliency and enhanced services are priorities via rural microgrid projects, and deployment of broadband (internet) service.
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The Palmetto State is a sunny place, with beaches that ribbon the eastern shore. Like other coastal areas, flooding and onshore storm damage is a growing threat.
In my previous post I discuss the state’s solar industry. The emergence of local solar installs in coastal communities is coinciding with the visual evidence of climate change.
It will be public funding and budgets that will mitigate, prepare and repair the coastal areas. To save places like Pawley’s Island, a breezy retreat settlement from the antebellum period, they will use public subsidy, i.e. taxpayer investment. Should they instead charge the companies that caused climate change or some other thoughtful solution?
In coastal flooding records beginning 1953, 22 of the 32 major or greater flooding events have happened since 20152. More frequent and intense storms ravage and flood South Carolina.
The state’s aquatic conditions and their politics coincided to make the Charleston area a human slavery trade hub in America’s founding. Places made possible rather quickly and majestically by relying upon and exploiting a slave economy and labor market.
If money is invested to save water-side mansions, what about the coastal areas where the Gullah Geechee still live? Or the places that are less symbolic than Old Charleston or Pawleys Island? The residences of poorer people lacking the resources to move or repair damage done by these weather events?
Generating solar electricity in the community makes a lot of sense. Through honest debate, we can collectively heed the science. Establish progressive policy to power our lives with limited harm to ourselves and the world we live in.
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Add this home improvement and in the long run, save money and add value.
Applicable Solar Incentives:
26% of the total solar invoice is equal to the Tax Credit. For example, a $20,000 solar install would be a $4400 Tax Credit.
Your Residential Rental property is classified as a Business, or income-generating. The 26% becomes a Line Item Credit on your tax liability. This is the same percentage amount as the Solar Tax Credit that residential homeowners enjoy. The IRS wants you to file the Tax Credit differently but the total credit percentage is the same.
Additional Cost Recovery:
If your rental property is a qualified business then it’s likely you can depreciate, or “write off” your investment in Solar. There are limits on how much credit can be taken in a year. I can provide all of paperwork needed to pursue this. Let’s be sure and consult with your accountant first, for instruction and advice regarding this possibility. See #1 below, IRC Section 48 – Energy Credit, MACRS and Accelerated Depreciation Schedule.
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The Palmetto State is a blooming solar market. 🌼
Financial incentives have been a game changer. Many South Carolinians with solar installations get a combined state and federal tax forfeiture of at least 51%1 of the total cost of the purchase of a solar system.
There were 1,160 installations in 2016, 18,000 in 2019 and a forecast of 40,000 before 20242.
Solar at the beach! Ocean adjacent systems may use system components that are more resistant to saline conditions.
But also…Fresh rain cleans your panels!
South Carolina has huge solar potential but has opponents. Can you guess who doesn’t want competition in the energy marketplace?
Recently, a collective of solar-friendly entities was able to successfully lobby on behalf of the state’s utility customers. State Regulators rejected the latest appeal of the private utility companies who want to continue their monopoly on power delivery.
For example Dominion Energy’s attempt to attach financial penalties to their customers that adopted solar was officially and significantly delayed in May 20213.
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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.Â
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.
Solar above Tacoma Narrows
Wanting some solar? A new WA State Incentive program was launched October 2017.
The plan was to have a four year offer, until the $110-150M was maxed out.
Yet…
July 2018 status report by WSU Energy Program shows the program is almost 75% subscribed. Seattle City Light is over 50% full, and PSE is 65%. PSE is the state’s largest electric utility.
The offer of cash paid for solar kWhs will end once capacity of your utility or the state program monetary cap is reached, whichever comes first.
The rate of solar adoption since Oct 2017 is quicker than expected.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
This home uses Renewable Energy. Tied to the Grid.