In 2007 Washington voters approved the state’s renewable energy standard (RES), which requires utilities serving 25,000 or more customers to derive 15 percent of their sales from renewable energy by 2020. Seventeen of Washington’s 62 utilities fall under the RES mandate.
Qualifying sources include water, wind, solar, geothermal, landfill gas, wave, ocean, or tidal, gas from sewage treatment facilities, biodiesel fuel, and biomass energy based on animal waste or solid organic fuels from wood, forest, or field residues, and dedicated energy crops.
The law sets a graduated compliance schedule beginning in 2012 when utilities must meet 3 percent of their load from renewables and rising steadily to the overall goal of 15 percent by 2020.
Utilities falling under the mandate are also required to implement cost-effective energy conservation programs.
Utilities may buy and sell renewable energy credits (RECs) to meet the mandate.
Utilities that fail to meet compliance goals must pay a $50 per megawatt-hour penalty.
Source: Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency