Video: Port Townsend going crazy over solar energy

Larger screen

PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. - While people are grasping for ways to save on gasoline, others are saving big-time on their electric bills.

Six-hundred Washington homes now generate their own power from the sun, even selling energy back to utilities.

Port Townsend has become a hotbed for solar power.

Rodger and Jill Schmitt are about to move into a Port Townsend house that's partially powered by the sun. The couple is spending $30,000 to have a solar power system installed on the roof and they expect to save money on their bills.

"There's going to be more and more movement in this direction," Rodger Schmitt said. "And the more we do it the more it's going to encourage others, we hope."

Port Townsend gets its electricity from Puget Sound Energy. Solar homeowners still buy some power from PSE, but they also sell energy back in the form of credits. Meaning when the home is generating more energy than its using, power goes out and back onto the grid.

A state-backed program will put money into a homeowner's pocket.

"So if you put in a 4 kilowatt system, we'll cut you a check for $600 each year," said Jake Wade, of the PSE Green Power Program.

KING

Solar panel home owners get several breaks.

Solar panel home owners get other breaks: a $2,000 credit on their tax returns, and no state sales tax on their system.

The Schmitt house is the 100th installation for Power Trip Energy Corp. Andy Cochrane started the company in 2003.

"Hopefully, within a few years. the amount of these distributed systems will be equivalent to a large power plant," he said.