More than $3 million is coming to Whatcom County for community clean energy projects, namely solar, funded by Washington’s Climate Commitment Act.
Bellingham Public Schools, the Point Roberts Park and Recreation District No. 1, and Western Washington University all received grants to expand solar capacity.
The school district received a $2.75 million state grant to install a solar array on five schools: Options High School, Shuksan Middle School, and Alderwood, Cordata and Happy Valley elementary schools.
Bellingham Public Schools spokesperson Dana Smith said the project will yield a megawatt of solar energy.
Smith said the district now builds schools to be solar ready, with the intention of seeking grant opportunities to add solar panels. This effort is part of the district’s “overall strategic planning efforts around our Climate Action Plan,” she said.
Western Washington University received $321,250 for solar panel installation on the Science, Mathematics and Technology Education building.
The Point Roberts Park and Recreation District No. 1 received $133,000, which will be used for a feasibility study on solar backup power for all the community buildings in Point Roberts, said Shauna Sylvester, a Point Roberts resident involved in “Resilient Point Roberts: Going Solar,” an effort to expand solar energy.
Those buildings would include the community center, library, water district building and reservoir, fire district building and Trinity Church, which is used as a shelter during emergencies. Sylvester said this has been a community undertaking, with “hundreds” of people involved in the grant application.
Cascadia Renewables will be contracted to run the feasibility study, Sylvester said. The money will also go toward continuing community engagement on solar power.
Sylvester said solar is a good path forward for Point Roberts due to the vulnerable nature of the community.
“When there is an energy outage, we really have to depend on ourselves,” she said. “As climate change increases, we’re going to have more extreme weather events, more outages and we need to have resilience … it’s part of ensuring we are less vulnerable as a community.”
The money awarded to Whatcom County organizations was part of a state Department of Commerce announcement on Monday of $72.6 million for 71 grants across Washington.
“These awards get money into the hands of people who can immediately put it to use fighting climate change,” said Commerce Director Mike Fong in a news release. “These communities were empowered to use their own discretion to create projects that meet their needs, which will improve outcomes for everyone in Washington.”
In Skagit County, two school districts and the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community were awarded grants:
- La Conner School District received $1.96 million for community decarbonization at La Conner Middle School.
- Anacortes School District received $500,000 for the Anacortes High School solar system.
- Swinomish Indian Tribal Community received $1.04 million for the Swinomish Senior Center Dental Clinic and $1.1 million for the Youth Center Resiliency Hub.
Gov. Jay Inslee signed the Climate Commitment Act in 2021. It created a cap-and-invest program that requires Washington’s largest polluters to reduce their pollution, and funnels pollution payments into climate-related community projects. Initiative 2117, which is on the November ballot, would repeal the measure and bar state agencies from creating any additional program on the trading of carbon tax credits.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
