On December 1, 2024, the Washington Department of Commerce (the State Energy Office) announced enhanced early adopter incentive payments for eligible Tier 1 building owners who demonstrate compliance with the Washington Clean Buildings Performance Standard by meeting the energy use intensity target performance metric. The enhanced incentives were enabled by the passage of Washington House Bill 1976. The original 2019 legislation authorized $75 million for early adopter incentive payments. Tier 1 buildings are non-residential, hotel, motel and dormitory buildings larger than 50,000 square feet. The early adopter incentive program is a performance based incentive designed to help cover the cost of compliance for qualifying buildings for energy saving-upgrades. The Washington Department of Commerce is developing the Tier 2 Early Adopter Incentive Program for buildings between 20,000 and 50,000 square feet, including multifamily buildings over 20,000 square feet. $150 million is earmarked for Tier 2 incentives which will launch in July 2025. To learn more, please click here.