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]

Source: NREL^[5]

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	% of generation	% of generation for utility and small-scale solar combined
2018	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0.001%	0.13%
2019	43	2	2	4	4	4	5	5	5	4	4	2	2	0.041%	0.23%
2020	47	1	3	4	5	5	5	7	6	4	4	2	1	0.040%	0.25%
2021	50	1	2	5	6	6	7	7	6	5	4	2	1	0.045%	0.32%
2022	83	1	3	5	5	6	6	7	6	4	13	14	11	0.07%	0.41%
2023	363	15	23	34	42	16	52	52	45	35	27	16	8	0.35%	0.86%
2024	437	11	18	40	44	55	59	56	55	44	33	14	10	0.43%	1.05%
2025	629	24	27	43	69	80	86	89	75	60	41	20	14	0.61%	1.31%
2026		16	24

Small-scale

Small-scale solar generation in Washington (GWh)^[16]
Year	Total	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	% of generation
2018	150	5	8	11	15	17	17	20	19	17	11	6	5	0.13%
2019	205	7	11	15	21	23	24	27	26	22	15	7	7	0.19%
2020	250	8	15	19	25	28	29	33	31	27	18	9	8	0.22%
2021	308	10	17	23	31	35	36	41	39	34	22	11	10	0.28%
2022	393	12	21	29	39	44	46	52	50	44	29	15	13	0.34%
2023	518	17	28	38	52	58	60	69	66	57	38	19	17	0.50%
2024	634	21	37	48	65	72	74	84	79	68	44	22	20	0.62%
2025	722	24	41	55	74	82	84	95	90	78	51	25	23	0.70%
2026		28	47

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.
↑ Washington Solar
↑ "Electricity Data Browser". U.S. Department of Energy. March 28, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
↑ [www.eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/ "Solar Power Data from Energy Information Administration Electricity Data Browser"]. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved May 10, 2026. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)

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.

[14] Washington Solar

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

[16] [www.eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/ "Solar Power Data from Energy Information Administration Electricity Data Browser"]. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved May 10, 2026. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)

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Solar power in the United States
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