Energy from the sun will help power this Pierce County school. Here’s the plan
Eatonville School District is expecting some upgrades this summer.
The school district received a $165,292 grant from the state Department of Commerce to install solar panels at Eatonville High School. The state allocated $3.5 million in grants for solar panel projects across the state, according to a Jan. 12 news release.
Solar projects have always been a topic of interest for the school district, John Fisher, maintenance and operations manager, said. But there has not been an opportunity for the district to pursue those projects due to lack of funding, he said.
The Clean Buildings act or House Bill 1257 that passed in 2019 also prompted the school district to apply for the grant, Fisher said. The act requires buildings over 50,000 square feet to meet a certain energy performance standard.
“This particular solar project would … get us closer to meeting those standards with the hopes of avoiding receiving any fees or fines down the road,” Fisher said.
Fisher said close to 200 75-kilowatt solar panels will be placed onto the roof of the high school by June.
When the solar panels are installed, funds that would have gone toward energy can instead go elsewhere, such as toward education programs, Fisher said.
“I think from the community standpoint … that’s a lower utility cost for us because that’s free energy down the road,” Fisher said.
All 29 projects funded by the state, including the school district’s, will provide over 2.2 megawatts of solar or 3 million kilowatts per hour every year. This is enough to power about 280 homes, according to the news release.
“These grants prioritized projects in rural and Tribal communities, to ensure all state residents benefit from a cleaner more efficient electric grid,” Lisa Brown, state Department of Commerce director, said in the news release.
