Solar power in Washington (state)

As of the first quarter of 2023, Washington State has 604 MW of solar power electricity generation.^[1] This is an increase from about 300 MW in 2021 and 27 MW in 2013.

Washington pays a feed-in tariff of up to $5,000/year of 15 cents/kWh, which is increased by a factor of 2.4 if the panels are made in the state and by an additional 1.2 if the inverters are made in state.^[2]^[3]

Amount of sunlight

The average insolation in Washington's two largest cities are as follows.

In the charts, a peak sun hour is one kilowatt-hour per square meter of solar irradiance.^[4]

ImageSize = width:420 height:240 PlotArea = width:350 height:150 left:40 bottom:40 AlignBars = late

DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:7 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:month increment:1 start:0

TextData =

 pos:(15,220) textcolor:black fontsize:M
 text:hrs
 pos:(205,25) textcolor:black fontsize:S
 text:Month
 pos:(90,230) textcolor:black fontsize:M
 text:Seattle Sun Hours/day (Avg = 3.76 hrs/day)

Colors =

 id:yellow value:yellow

PlotData=

width:20 textcolor:black
bar:Jan color:yellow from:0 till:1.54 text:1.54 shift:(-10,25)
bar:Feb color:yellow from:0 till:2.50 text:2.50 shift:(-10,35)
bar:Mar color:yellow from:0 till:3.71 text:3.71 shift:(-10,50)
bar:Apr color:yellow from:0 till:4.37 text:4.37 shift:(-10,55)
bar:May color:yellow from:0 till:5.31 text:5.31 shift:(-10,65)
bar:Jun color:yellow from:0 till:5.52 text:5.52 shift:(-10,65)
bar:Jul color:yellow from:0 till:5.88 text:5.88 shift:(-10,70)
bar:Aug color:yellow from:0 till:5.17 text:5.17 shift:(-10,65)
bar:Sep color:yellow from:0 till:4.98 text:4.98 shift:(-10,60)
bar:Oct color:yellow from:0 till:3.00 text:3.00 shift:(-10,40)
bar:Nov color:yellow from:0 till:1.76 text:1.76 shift:(-10,25)
bar:Dec color:yellow from:0 till:1.26 text:1.26 shift:(-10,20)

</timeline>

Source: NREL^[5]

ImageSize = width:420 height:240 PlotArea = width:350 height:150 left:40 bottom:40 AlignBars = late

DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:7 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:month increment:1 start:0

TextData =

 pos:(15,220) textcolor:black fontsize:M
 text:hrs
 pos:(205,25) textcolor:black fontsize:S
 text:Month
 pos:(90,230) textcolor:black fontsize:M
 text:Spokane Sun Hours/day (Avg = 4.48 hrs/day)

Colors =

 id:yellow value:yellow

PlotData=

width:20 textcolor:black
bar:Jan color:yellow from:0 till:2.54 text:2.54 shift:(-10,40)
bar:Feb color:yellow from:0 till:2.99 text:2.99 shift:(-10,45)
bar:Mar color:yellow from:0 till:4.27 text:4.27 shift:(-10,55)
bar:Apr color:yellow from:0 till:5.08 text:5.08 shift:(-10,65)
bar:May color:yellow from:0 till:5.49 text:5.49 shift:(-10,65)
bar:Jun color:yellow from:0 till:5.55 text:5.55 shift:(-10,65)
bar:Jul color:yellow from:0 till:6.86 text:6.86 shift:(-10,80)
bar:Aug color:yellow from:0 till:6.58 text:6.58 shift:(-10,75)
bar:Sep color:yellow from:0 till:5.61 text:5.61 shift:(-10,70)
bar:Oct color:yellow from:0 till:4.52 text:4.52 shift:(-10,55)
bar:Nov color:yellow from:0 till:2.26 text:2.26 shift:(-10,35)
bar:Dec color:yellow from:0 till:1.99 text:1.99 shift:(-10,30)

</timeline>

Source: NREL^[6]

Installed generation capacity

Total grid connected

Grid-Connected PV Capacity (MW)^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]
Year	Capacity	Change	% Change
2007	1.9
2008	3.7	1.8	95%
2009	5.2	1.5	41%
2010	8.0	2.9	54%
2011	12.3	4.2	54%
2012	19.5	7.2	59%
2013	27.4	7.9	41%
2014	39	7.2	42%
2015	62	26	59%
2016	85	23	37%
2017	105	20	23%
2018	169	64	61%
2019	216	47	27%
2020	250.3	34.3	15%
2021	297.6	47.3	%
2022	585	287.4	%

Utility-scale

Utility-scale solar generation in Washington (GWh)^[15]
Year	Total	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2018	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
2019	43	2	2	4	4	4	5	5	5	4	4	2	2
2020	47	1	3	4	5	5	5	7	6	4	4	2	1
2021	50	1	2	5	6	6	7	7	6	5	4	2	1
2022	83	1	3	5	5	6	6	7	6	4	13	14	11
2023	363	15	23	34	42	16	52	52	45	35	27	16	8
2024		11	18

References

^ "Washington Solar | SEIA". www.seia.org. Retrieved 2023-08-19.
^ Washington State Creates Incentive for Home Solar Power Production
^ Washington Renewable Energy Production Incentives Archived 2012-05-10 at the Wayback Machine
^ "This is How Much Sunlight Your Solar Panel System Needs".
^ "PV Watts". NREL. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^ "PV Watts". NREL. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^ Sherwood, Larry (July 2014). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2013" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved 2014-07-21.
^ Sherwood, Larry (July 2013). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2012" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 16. Retrieved 2013-10-11.
^ Sherwood, Larry (August 2012). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2011" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-06. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
^ Sherwood, Larry (June 2011). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2010" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved 2011-06-29.
^ Sherwood, Larry (July 2010). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2009" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-09-25. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
^ Sherwood, Larry (July 2009). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2008" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-11-23. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
^ Sherwood, Larry (August 2008). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2007" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved 2010-07-24.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ Washington Solar
^ "Electricity Data Browser". U.S. Department of Energy. March 28, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2021.

External links

Incentives and policies

[1] "Washington Solar | SEIA". www.seia.org. Retrieved 2023-08-19.

[2] Washington State Creates Incentive for Home Solar Power Production

[3] Washington Renewable Energy Production Incentives Archived 2012-05-10 at the Wayback Machine

[4] "This is How Much Sunlight Your Solar Panel System Needs".

[5] "PV Watts". NREL. Retrieved 19 August 2012.

[6] "PV Watts". NREL. Retrieved 19 August 2012.

[7] Sherwood, Larry (July 2014). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2013" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved 2014-07-21.

[8] Sherwood, Larry (July 2013). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2012" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 16. Retrieved 2013-10-11.

[9] Sherwood, Larry (August 2012). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2011" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-06. Retrieved 2012-08-16.

[10] Sherwood, Larry (June 2011). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2010" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved 2011-06-29.

[11] Sherwood, Larry (July 2010). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2009" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-09-25. Retrieved 2010-07-28.

[12] Sherwood, Larry (July 2009). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2008" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-11-23. Retrieved 2010-07-24.

[13] Sherwood, Larry (August 2008). "U.S. Solar Market Trends 2007" (PDF). Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). Retrieved 2010-07-24.^{[permanent dead link]}

[14] Washington Solar

[15] "Electricity Data Browser". U.S. Department of Energy. March 28, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2021.

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