Reply #2: we have an established tradition of living off the grid up here... [View All]

That might be part of the reason. A lot of rural land was homesteaded up here in the 70s and 80s, well after any gov't assistance with rural electrification, so the cost of connecting to the grid is often prohibitive. PG&E told one of my friends they'd run the wires to his home for $40,000 and that was back in the 80s. One can only imagine how expensive it would be today. The result is large rural communities generating their own electricity. Some of those have likely taken advantage of incentives to upgrade their existing PV systems, but having an established solar sales, installation, and service industry here has probably helped extend solar installations into urban areas too.