Are solar panels worth it in cloudy Whatcom County? Here’s what you should know
Year-round sun light is not required for solar panels to be an effective source of energy, a fact that is especially useful to those living in Bellingham, which averages 201 cloudy days a year.
It is uncommon for solar panels to be the only source of energy in for a building, instead the panels work with the standard energy grid to save electricity.
In the summer when the days are longer, solar panels can generate enough energy to run the electricity meter backwards, which decreases the total amount of electricity billed at the end of the month. In the winter when the days are shorter and the skies are cloudy, solar panels do not generate as much electricity, and most of the energy for the building comes from the grid.
“It is almost like you are a farmer, you are a solar farmer with a farming season,” Orion Eaton, Senior Energy Analyst for Sustainable Connections, told The Bellingham Herald in an interview.
The summer months in the Northwest are almost perfect for solar panels, Eaton said. Strong heat and humidity can degrade the cells in the solar panels, causing permanent damage.
The Residential Clean Energy Credit, also known as the Solar Investment Tax Credit, provides incentives for people to make the switch to solar energy.
While the credit was scheduled to start dropping in 2023, it was extended to 2032 through the Inflation Reduction Act. The tax credit — which reduces a percentage of the cost to install a system — was also increased from 26% to 30% until 2032, at which point it will decrease back to 26% and then 22% for systems installed in 2034. Congress can renew the tax credit in 2035, otherwise it will expire.
The price of solar panel installation is dependent on a variety of factors such as location, supply and demand, types and amount of panels, not to mention the installation cost itself. However, the industry standard is to calculate the dollars to the wattage of the solar panels installed.
The average cost for solar panel installation in Washington is about $3.08 per watt. So for a 6 kilowatt system, the cost is about $18,480. With the solar tax credit, that cost is about $13,675.
The exact amount of energy and money a solar panel system can save is also dependent on a number of factors, but Eaton was able to provide The Herald with a rough figure.
“Kilowatts of the solar array times 1,000 will give a rough estimate of kilowatt hours of production for the year most folks pay about $0.11 per kilowatt hour for power (from Puget Sound Energy),” Eaton told The Herald in an email.
“There’s a lot more science and math behind that to get the actual number which should be a bit higher if there are no shading issues, but it’s pretty conservative number for a rooftop solar. So a 12 kilowatt residential system will produce 12,000 kilowatt hours, and save about $1,320 a year.”
Panels in the Northwest will not generate as much energy as panels in other parts of the world, but they are still economically viable, Mia Devine, Project Manager at Spark Northwest, told The Herald in an interview.
Spark Northwest is a Seattle based nonprofit that works to provide communities with clean energy. In October, Spark worked with the Nooksack Indian Tribe on its first solar panel project.
Solar energy in Whatcom has been growing in popularity for the last two decades, Dana Brandt, owner of Ecotech Solar, told The Herald. Brandt started his business in 2004, and described the concept of solar in Whatcom County as “perfectly laughable.” Over time this stance has changed and solar panels can be seen across the county and in Bellingham.
“In the early days, the only people who had solar were people who had dispensary income and just wanted to do the right thing. Now, certainly those people still have solar, but it is cost-effective, it is a money-saver,” Brandt said. “Everybody who gets sun on their roof is looking to go solar now.”
