Community Solar Expansion Program

The Washington State Community Solar Expansion Program is an incentive program that aims to expand access to the benefits of renewable energy for Washington’s low-income sector. The Program seeks to incentivize projects that will deliver continuing direct benefits and reduce the energy burden for low-income communities.

Announcement (9/15/2025)

As of September 2025, the CSEP team has been notified of a budget shortfall for our administrative operation. While there is no impact to funding for proposed solar projects, it impacts our daily operations. To continue reviewing applications in a timely manner, we are implementing a precertification application fee of $5,000 for submissions received after September 30th 2025. The fee is applied to projects receiving precertification and is included in project costs that are reimbursed upon certification approval. Please visit the FAQ Page for additional details.

Case Studies

 

Estimated Allocated Funding

Through October 8, 2025, the Community Solar Expansion Program has pre-certified or certified a total of $18.7 million in incentives, with 29 certified projects, 57 in precertification, and an additional dozen or more that are in development, working towards pre-certification.

Allocated funding: Pre-certified projects: $13,137,175.20; Certified projects: $5,568,583.95
Data current up to October 08, 2025

Projects Underway

Curious where the WSU Energy Program has been helping to reduce the energy burden across the state? Check out our statewide map to discover pre-certified and certified projects since 2022.