S-4465.2
SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6050
State of Washington
69th Legislature
2026 Regular Session
By Senate Environment, Energy & Technology (originally sponsored by Senators Liias, Short, Lovelett, Shewmake, Wellman, and J. Wilson)
READ FIRST TIME 02/02/26.
AN ACT Relating to expanding the use of distributed energy resources; amending RCW 64.38.055 and 64.90.510 ; reenacting and amending RCW 80.60.010 ; adding new sections to chapter 80.60 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 80.28 RCW; creating a new section; providing an effective date; and providing an expiration date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that electricity is an essential resource, the rising cost of electricity is a barrier to basic necessities, interconnection fees and processes can add substantial costs and time to the adoption of solar energy systems, and upgrading electrical panels can be cost-prohibitive for some customers seeking to embrace additional electrification in their homes.
The legislature also finds that grid reliability and safety is of the utmost importance. The legislature recognizes that underwriters laboratories launched UL 3700, the testing and certification program for safer plug-in solar systems, in January 2026, and the existing UL 1741 and IEEE 1547 further provide safeguards for these systems. The IEEE 1547 standards provide uniform requirements for the safe interconnection of distributed energy resources to the grid, and specifically to the part of the grid that delivers power to homes and other buildings. UL 1741 specifies the testing methods to ensure safety for inverters and other utility interconnected distributed generation equipment to enable smarter, safer, and reactive grid interconnection. Together, these standards ensure that, if the grid goes down, a customer's solar system will also shut down, ensuring the customer's electricity lines are deenergized. Furthermore, the legislature intends to ensure that portable solar generation devices meet the national electrical code standards, and that any such device that is coupled with storage also complies with UL 3141.