Snohomish County PUD dedicated its second energy storage system in March 2017, recently installed at a substation in Everett, Wash. The system is the world’s largest containerized vanadium flow battery system by capacity. The batteries and control systems are housed in 20 shipping containers, each 20 feet in length, packed with tanks of a liquid electrolyte solution.

The Solar Express program, operated by Snohomish County PUD, is sunsetting. Projects must be submitted by June 30, 2017 in order to be considered for a cash incentive. Through SnoPUD's Solar Express Program the PUD offers cash incentives for qualifying solar customers. Solar Express incentives are $300 per kW (up to $2,000 per residential system and $8,000 per commercial system). 

Solar Washington Board Member (and CEO of Pure Solar) Rich Phillips (pictured left) and SW Executive Director Patrick Nugent gave a presentation on solar on Friday, March 24 on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle in front of 30 Puget Sound area students at the YMCA's annual Environmental Symposium presented by YMCA's Earth Service Corps. Click to learn more about the Earth Services Corps.

Solar Washington's presentation covered the various uses of solar (including solar PV and passive), how solar works, why solar is important from environmental and economic perspectives, as well as career opportunities in solar. Students asked a range of questions and were presented with hands-on items including solar PV wafers that are incorporated into panels, a solar PV panel itself, and more

From January 2017 Press Release

Renton, WA-Home furnishings retailer IKEA recently completed an installation of solar panels atop the relocated Seattle-area store that opened in early Spring 2017. The project is the largest solar rooftop array in the state of Washington.

The store’s 244,000-square-foot solar array consists of a 1.13 MW system, built with 3,268 panels that will produce approximately 1,261,000 kWh of electricity annually for the store, the equivalent of reducing 886 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) – equal to the emissions of 187 cars or providing electricity for 131 homes yearly (calculating clean energy equivalents at www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator).

REC Solar, based in the Bay Area, designed the store’s solar array, which was installed by Seattle-based A&R Solar. Deacon Corp. managed the construction of the store, that reflects the unique architectural design for which IKEA stores are known worldwide.

The Northwest Energy Coalition and the Oregon Solar Energy Industries Association hosted the Fall 2016 Northwest Clean & Affordable Energy Conference November 17 & 18 in Portland, Oregon. The roughly 200 conference attendees heard from leaders in the policy, utility, renewable energy, energy efficiency, fish and wildlife, and business sectors. They discussed challenges and opportunities in transitioning to the low-carbon grid, next-generation energy efficiency, building the market for clean energy investments, and salmon recovery in the Columbia River basin. Economic and policy opportunities for expanding solar in the Northwest were also highlighted.

The Energy Department announced $21.4 million in funding for 17 new projects to help reduce the "soft costs" commonly found with solar energy, such as installation, permitting, and connecting to the grid. As more U.S. consumers turn toward renewable energy each year, nine of the awards will focus on how the solar industry can sustain and accelerate this growth by understanding the motivations and factors that influence the technology adoption process, particularly in low- and moderate-income communities. The other eight awards will focus on tackling solar market challenges at the state and regional levels through better strategic energy and economic planning.

Everett, WA — Several thousand Snohomish County PUD customers are supporting solar energy by participating in the utility’s voluntary Planet Power green energy program. The PUD will fund two additional projects for installation in the coming months. With the new systems, the program now has helped fund 34 solar arrays throughout Snohomish County. This is the eighth year of grants under the program. Click to read more.