Yes! Solar power works great in the Northwest! 

Although higher latitudes receive fewer annual hours of sunlight, solar panels operate at greater efficiency in cooler climates making the Northwest an excellent place for solar. In addition, the Northwest has long summer days with many months of high solar hours. Although the Northwest does have long, overcast winters, solar makes a lot of sense because it still works on cloudy days. Even in areas that have long, rainy winters like Seattle, Portland, Willamette Valley, and the greater Puget Sound area, solar power is still a very attractive solution to today’s energy problems. Even though it might not seem like it during the winter, most of the Northwest actually receives up to 70% of the sunlight that Los Angeles does!

Germany, which actually gets less sunlight than we do here in the Northwest, produces 55% of the world's solar photovoltaic panels and is expecting to be 100% green in its national energy use by 2010. Germany has approximately 10% fewer annual hours of sunlight than Portland and Seattle and most of the country is actually north of the Puget Sound’s latitudes, yet over half of the world’s solar energy is being generated there. If Germany can produce that much solar energy with less sun, there is no reason not to go solar here in the Northwest.

In addition, Washington and Oregon have some of the best incentive programs in the country. These state incentives make solar more financially attractive here than in the majority of the southern states. 

Solar in Washington

Because of the huge success of solar power in Germany, Washington has modeled its solar electric financial incentive programs on those of Germany. If you live in Eastern Washington the picture even gets better due to the additional solar hours there along with Chelan County’s SNAP program. This is why there has been a rapid increase of solar installations occurring in Wenatchee over the past few years! Click to learn more about Washington solar incentive programs.

Solar in Oregon

Oregon has implemented the nation’s best solar incentive programs which include a 50% business tax credit and an upfront rebate program that can cover close to 20% of the system cost. This means that in Oregon a commercial solar system has one of the fastest return on investments in the country! An Oregon business can expect to see an ROI from their solar power system within four to five years! Click to learn more about Oregon solar incentive programs.

Solar Hot Water

Solar hot water systems also do very well in the Pacific Northwest. This is due to solar hot water collectors (flat plate and evacuated tube systems) absorbing a larger spectrum of the sun’s infrared energy. On cloudy days solar water collectors actually harvest more solar energy than solar electric modules do. If the system uses the latest technology in evacuated tube systems such as the Apricus product then even more infrared energy is collected. These systems are also more tolerant of energy loss due to less than ideal sun exposure. This is why the Apricus product has overtaken Thermomax as the most sought after, highest performing, and affordable evacuated tube system available.

Sunergy Systems has installed close to 75 solar hot water systems in the King County, Snohomish County, and the Pierce County Regions. Call us at 206-297-0086 to learn more about how to heat your water with solar energy (Sunergy Systems currently does not serve Oregon for solar hot water systems).

Read why satisfied customers all the way from Tacoma to Everett have chosen Sunergy Systems as their solar installation experts. Click here for testimonials.

This link talks about Washington State’s solar potential:
http://www.rnp.org/RenewTech/tech_solar.html

If you have any questions or would like more information from one of our solar energy experts, just Contact Us or submit our Request A Quote form and we'll get back to you.