Washington solar leads

Seattle’s solar resource

Seattle is Washington’s largest city in the Census Bureau’s July 1, 2025 estimates. The PVWatts calculator, first built at NREL and now operated by the National Laboratory of the Rockies, puts the solar radiation reaching a modeled array there at 3.92 kWh per square meter per day (checked October 9, 2026).

How it was run: the PVWatts version 8 default system, a fixed open-rack array tilted 20 degrees and facing south, at Seattle’s Census gazetteer point, with typical-year weather from the National Solar Radiation Database. East of the Cascades, Spokane and the Tri-Cities sit in a drier climate than Seattle, so one city is a rough guide for the state; the figure compares states on one method and is not a forecast for any roof.

Net metering under Washington law

In Washington, net metering is set by statute rather than by a commission rule. Chapter 80.60 RCW (as of October 9, 2026) applies to every electric utility in the state: investor-owned companies regulated by the Utilities and Transportation Commission and consumer-owned utilities such as public utility districts, municipal utilities and cooperatives. A net metering system, under RCW 80.60.010(13), generates renewable energy with no more than 100 kW of AC capacity, sits on the customer’s premises, runs in parallel with the utility’s distribution system and is meant mainly to offset the customer’s own use.

Under RCW 80.60.020(1)(a), a utility must offer net metering on a first-come, first-served basis until June 30, 2029, or until net metered capacity reaches 4% of the utility’s 1996 peak demand, whichever comes first. After that point, a utility may adopt a different standard rate or tariff for new customer-generators, and customers already interconnected keep the statutory crediting while their interconnection agreement stays valid.

Crediting works by billing period. When a system sends more to the grid than the customer uses, RCW 80.60.030(3) credits the excess kilowatt-hours on the next bill. Under RCW 80.60.030(5), credits still unused on March 31 each year pass to the utility without compensation. The same section lets a customer aggregate the system’s meter with one other meter on the same or a contiguous parcel.

Washington’s sales tax exemption for small solar systems

RCW 82.08.962(1)(e) exempts 100% of state and local sales tax on the machinery and equipment used directly to generate electricity in a solar energy system of no more than 100 kW AC, and on the labor and services to install it (checked October 9, 2026). The installation must start no earlier than July 1, 2019 and be completed by December 31, 2029, and the section itself expires on January 1, 2030.

The seller has to meet conditions at the time of sale: a contractor registration under chapter 18.27 RCW, a current state unified business identifier, proof of industrial insurance coverage and the related state registrations, and no final findings of wage and hour violations in the past 24 months. The purchaser gives the seller an exemption certificate. The statute sets the exemption as a share of the tax, not a dollar figure, and this page states no amount; how it applies to a given sale is a question for the Department of Revenue or a tax professional.

Washington counties by owner-occupied detached homes

Ranked by owner-occupied single-family detached homes, the ten largest Washington counties, with all owner-occupied homes and the detached share, from the ACS 5-year 2020-2024, table B25032 by county. The counts describe homes, not leads.

King County alone has 417,247 owner-occupied detached homes, more than Pierce and Snohomish combined (380,448), in the 2020-2024 county estimates. Spokane has the highest detached share in the ten, 89.9%, and is the largest county east of the Cascades.

What Washington solar buyers filter on

Washington solar buyers generally work from four fields on a lead, each tied to a fact on this page:

• Homeowner status: more than a third of Washington households rent, so buyers usually keep owners only.
• Project type: the type of solar project the homeowner described, in general terms; the options are settled when the solar form is finalized.
• Timeframe: whether the homeowner expects to move ahead soon, which matters with statutory dates in 2029.
• ZIP code: the service area an installer and its electrical contractor can cover, west or east of the Cascades.

The filters for Washington solar leads are agreed with each buyer during onboarding. Exclusive or shared routing for solar leads is agreed with each buyer during onboarding. The sample solar lead shows the fields.

Request Washington solar leads

Email us the Washington ZIP codes you cover, your daily volume or caps and how you take delivery. ReturnReturnA buyer's request for credit on a lead that fails agreed standards, such as a disconnected number, a duplicate or a lead outside the filters. Glossary terms are agreed on the onboarding call, before you go live.