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- What is a FIT law?
- Before you start drafting
- Features of a good FIT law
- Country- and region-specific information
US State Law - Washington State
The State of Washington has a law that could be described as a step toward a FIT -- Senate Bill 5101, codified as RCW § 82.16.110 – 82.16.140.
Summary
SB 5101 does not require the electricity produced from renewable sources to be connected to the grid, so we cannot call this a true FIT program.
Senate bill 5101 is an investment cost recovery program for individuals (and businesses, etc.) that install qualified renewable energy facilities on-site to produce power they will use on-site. The property for which someone is claiming the incentive must be connected to the grid. The power produced reduces the amount of power that would have to come from the grid, but the power itself does not necessarily get sold to the grid.
The law does not require connection to the grid, and in fact, originally did not allow connection to the grid. When SB 5101 became law, Washington did not have uniform standards for interconnection. The law says that once the utilities covering 80% of the customer base have adopted uniform interconnection standards, then customers can apply for incentives for both interconnected production and non-interconnected production. This 80% requirement has now been met, so customers can apply for cost recovery incentives for energy produced from certain renewable resources whether or not the energy produced is connected to the grid.
Utilities are not required to participate in the program, so there is no guarantee that customers generating electricity from renewable sources will be able to obtain the incentives.
Legal analysis
Read a legal analysis of the Washington law
More information
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