This bill amends existing Washington statutes governing community solar (including RCW 80.28.370 and RCW 82.16.170) and adds and updates sections (including RCW 82.16.182, 82.16.183, and RCW 82.16.184). It revises and creates definitions for terms like community solar project, administrator, community solar company, and qualifying subscriber, establishes a precertification and certification process administered by the Washington State University (WSU) extension energy program, and sets out administrative, reporting, disclosure, and certification requirements for projects and administrators. The statute limits eligible projects to DC capacity greater than 12 kW and no greater than 999 kW, requires administrators to provide disclosure forms and maintain project information annually through June 30, 2030, and reserves at least 50% of available incentive payments for projects 199 kW or smaller. The bill establishes a financial incentive structure and payment procedures: a low-income community solar incentive that may include up to $20,000 per project for startup costs plus an amount up to 100% of the proportional installed cost of the share benefiting qualifying subscribers (accounting for federal or other grants), a statewide certification cap of $100,000,000, biennial dollar limits ($300,000 for FY2023; $25,000,000 per biennium thereafter), set-asides (at least $2,000,000 for nonprofit innovations and $2,000,000 for tribal governments), a limit that no more than 35% of funding go to utility project administrators, and specified cost targets ($2.00/W DC for systems >200 kW, $2.25/W DC for systems ≤200 kW, and $600/kWh for storage). The WSU program may disburse part of incentives at precertification, requires repayment with interest (per chapter 82.32 RCW) if certification is not achieved or benefits are not delivered, and prescribes recordkeeping, annual reporting by administrators for 10 years, and biennial legislative reporting beginning FY2026. The bill imposes procedural and compliance rules: projects >199 kW and ≤999 kW must have Department of Labor and Industries certifications of contractor registration, prevailing wage/apprenticeship utilization and related documentation before administrators receive incentive payments; utilities’ participation in the incentive program is voluntary and utilities may not earn a rate of return on these incentives; nonpower attributes must generally be retired on behalf of subscribers; violations of certain provisions are treated as unfair or deceptive acts under the consumer protection act; and light and power businesses may claim a tax credit equal to incentive payments subject to specified deadlines and expirations. Several temporal limits are included (for example, applications for precertification may be submitted beginning July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2033; no new certifications may be issued after June 30, 2035; and the definitions section and related statutory provisions expire June 30, 2038). Some portions of the statutory text were truncated in the provided material and several cross-referenced subsections and amended texts (including parts of RCW 82.16.182, 82.16.183, and 82.16.184 and subsection (10) of RCW 82.16.170) were not included here, so precise language for certain application requirements, payment timing details upon final certification, and the remainder of subsection clauses are not available from these extracts.

If enacted, the bill sets up a WSU-run certification and incentive program that will pay for community solar projects between 12 kW and 999 kW with strong priority and funding reserved for smaller projects and low-income beneficiaries. Administrators can get partial payments at precertification but face a requirement to repay those funds with interest if the project does not certify or does not deliver promised benefits; larger projects (over 199 kW up to 999 kW) must show contractor registration and Department of Labor and Industries compliance on apprenticeship and prevailing wage before receiving incentives. The program imposes cost targets per watt (with separate limits for storage), a $100 million statewide cap with biennial limits, set-asides for nonprofits and tribal governments, deadlines for certification and program expiration dates, and ongoing reporting and recordkeeping requirements for administrators and utilities. The people and organizations most affected are community solar administrators and companies (more upfront documentation, disclosure to subscribers, potential advance funding but repayment risk, limits on recoverable costs, and ongoing reporting duties), contractors on larger projects (new compliance and documentation obligations), utilities (voluntary participation but if they participate they must remit incentive payments within set timeframes, publish certain nonutility administrators, and access to only a portion of funding), and low-income subscribers and nonprofits/tribes (greater dedicated funding and protections like subscription portability for moves within 120 months). Some important operational details are missing from the extracted text—including full language on payments upon final certification and several cross-referenced subsections—so exact payment mechanics and some implementation steps remain unclear.