Tag Archives: Solar

Guide to Residential Solar – for the Real Estate Professional

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Solar Incentives

– 30% of total installed cost = Federal Tax Credit
– Any electrical upgrades that are “necessary for solar” – get same 30% Tax Credit
– Utilities statewide will *currently* reimburse up to 50% of cost- that offer will reduce slightly in the future (June ’18)
– Property Tax Assessment-exempt
– Free power guaranteed. AKA Net Metering.
– Homegrown “Zero Down Solar” Lenders. As low as 3.5%

Facts

– The WSU Energy Program in Olympia WA monitors State Incentives
– The sooner you go solar, the better!
– The term “Solar” refers to Solar Photovoltaic electrical generating systems.
– Photo = Light :: Voltaic = Electricity
– State Incentive program offer dips slightly each June 30th
– State Incentive program closes June 2021
– 25 year warranty for panels. 40 years of respectable energy production.
– Summertime production is better in Seattle than any other city in the Lower 48
– Excellent resale value, esp. in coastal counties.
– Warranties, ownership, incentives – all easily transferrable

Features

– Various aesthetic choices available. Not all installs have to look the same.
– Panels are lightweight > 40lbs./ea.
– Hail-proof, non-reflective glass is standard
– Per panel monitoring feature is typical. Internet log-in and cloud based features.
– Systems are owned by the real estate property owner. No Leasing in Washington State.

Specifics

– HOA restrictions in WA are slight. Case by case basis, often favors solar with black frames.
– Roof mounting is typical, ground mounts are more common in rural areas.
– Verity CU and PSCCU offer solar-specific loans with flexible/favorable terms.

 

**Local Solar Industry groups such as Solar WA & Solar Installers of WA peer-approve their new members. Choose an installer from their membership!**

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.

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.