Gretchen and Pete Bauer had been thinking about solar power since buying their home in northeast Seattle some 22 years ago. But they thought it would be too expensive. Last June, the couple completed installation of a 19-panel solar power system.
“A combination of federal and state tax credits reduced the payback from our original estimate of 20 years down to about six today,” says Gretchen Bauer.
Bauer’s Ravenna-Bryant neighbor Rebecca Dunsmoor-Su last summer cashed her first solar incentive check of $600, representing Washington state’s solar rebate of $.54/kWh for purchasing solar panels and inverters manufactured instate.
Rod and Sandy Nestor, of Puyallup, attended the Seattle Home Show in October at the Qwest Field Event Center to find out more about solar power in this part of the world, where sunshine is more frequently reported as “sunbreaks.”
“We’ve been interested in solar for several years, but have been uncertain about how it would work for us in our climate,” Rod said.
Appeared in The Seattle Times on February 8, 2013.