Free Solar Panels in Washington: An Owners’ Market, a Paused Program and the Zero-Down Loan (2026)

Washington grew its rooftop solar market without leasing companies. A July 2025 count based on the DSIRE incentives database found no residential lease or PPA offers here, yet Washington had the largest home solar base of any state on that list. The arrays on those roofs were bought, with cash or a loan, by the households under them. That settles what a national “free solar” ad is built to ask: buying works here without anyone doing it for free.

What the state offers instead is quieter. There is no state income tax credit, because Washington does not currently have an individual income tax. The state takes the sales tax off the system, and state law gives you one-for-one bill credits for the power you send to the grid. That second right has two expiry conditions written into it, and the largest utility in the state has already passed one of them.

Washington Solar for All: Paused Before It Opened

Commerce planned no-cost rooftop solar for income-qualified homeowners and low-income community solar for renters, with funding from January 2026. Then the EPA moved to terminate the grant on August 7, 2025, and Commerce paused the whole program, community solar part included.

In September 2026, federal courts in Rhode Island (September 18) and Washington, DC ruled that the EPA’s termination of Solar for All was unlawful, and the EPA said it was weighing an appeal. As of October 5, 2026, Commerce had not announced a restart. An offer that calls itself “the state solar program” is a private contract until Commerce says otherwise.

Zero-Down Solar in Washington: Mostly a Loan, Sometimes a Share

Zero-down means nothing paid on install day: a loan, a lease, or a power purchase agreement (PPA), where you pay per kWh (kilowatt-hour) the panels make. Washington allows both, but that 2025 count found no company offering them to homes here, and Palmetto, a national lease provider, said it had none in the state. So a Washington zero-down offer is almost always a loan.

There is no lease-versus-PPA comparison here because neither is widely sold to Washington homes. Compare loan terms and APRs in our solar financing guide.

The Sales Tax Exemption Is the Real Money

Under RCW 82.08.962 and its use tax twin, a system of 1 kW to 100 kW AC is exempt from 100% of state and local sales tax, through December 31, 2029. The state rate is 6.5%, and local tax comes on top. Batteries charged by the solar array count as part of the system (WAC 458-20-263).

Labor is exempt only when the installer is registered with the state and has no wage-and-hour violations in the past 24 months. If tax was charged anyway, the Department of Revenue has a refund form. Check that every quote shows the exempt price.

A Right With Two Expiry Conditions

chapter 80.60 of the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) makes utilities credit your extra power kWh for kWh, for systems up to 100 kW, until the earlier of two triggers: total net metered capacity reaches 4% of the utility’s 1996 peak demand, or June 30, 2029. The 1996 baseline is the part people miss: a share of a peak from three decades ago is easy to hit. By January 31, 2026, the WSU Energy Program counted 12 utilities past the cap.

Passing the cap ends the legal duty; each utility then decides. Credits left in your account are handed to the utility each March 31 with no payment. If you bank 1,000 kWh in summer and use 800 by then, 200 kWh are gone. Size the system to what the house uses.

Co-op or small PUD? WSU lists some, such as Kittitas PUD and OPALCO, as no longer following the state credit rule. Get your utility’s current rule in writing.

You Likely Will Not Qualify If

• You are waiting on Solar for All. It is paused, and nobody can enroll you in it today.
• You expect a Washington solar tax credit. There is no state income tax to credit against. The sales tax exemption is the state’s help.
• You are counting on the federal credit. The homeowner credit ended for systems installed after December 31, 2025.

The Washington Application-First Audit

Getting the utility application in is most of the job.

1. Which utility serves this address, and is its net metering schedule open today?

   Get the answer dated, in writing. On Pacific Power, ask whether your application can be complete before February 1, 2027.

2. Is the quote priced without sales tax?

   Ask whether the installer meets the labor exemption rules, and whether the battery is in the same project.

3. Is it really a loan?

   If the paper says lease or PPA, ask who owns the panels and why the sales tax exemption is not in your price.

4. What is the total of payments, dealer fee included?

   A low monthly number on a long term can cost far more than the cash price of solar in Washington, about $24,710 for a typical 8.64 kW system.

5. Is the system sized to your yearly use?

   Anything banked past March 31 goes to the utility for nothing.

Batteries: Where Washington Help Is Closest to Free

PSE’s Flex Batteries enhanced incentive pays up to $10,000, or the full eligible cost of a first battery, for limited-income households, taken off the upfront price. Everyone else gets $75 per kWh, up to $1,000 per battery. Pacific Power’s Wattsmart Battery pays $600 per kW, up to $3,000.

More Washington Solar Guides

• Washington solar guideUtilities, incentives and installers in one place
• Is solar worth it in Washington?The payback math for your home
• Washington solar incentivesThe exemption, net metering and battery programs
• Cost of solar in WashingtonThe cash price a loan should track
• Washington solar companiesInstallers to compare
• Free solar panels in the USHow $0-down offers work elsewhere

Washington Free Solar FAQs