It's been a little over a year since we put a solar array on the roof of the Holiday. It is the first community solar array on an affordable housing building in Washington State.

City Light customers purchased units of the array, entitling them to a portion of the value of the electricity produced, while helping to reduce the long-term operating costs of affordable housing. The array exceeded production expectations by more than 20% in the first year.

In the fall, City Light announced they would reach the state-imposed cap for incentives much earlier than originally thought. Unfortunately, that means participants will see less return on their investments than expected.

Recently the EcoDistrict has joined with allies to improve the state incentive structure and to better serve the needs of the affordable housing sector. We will be tracking legislation this year and looking for outcomes that expand options for solar deployment on affordable housing.