The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON – Installation has already begun on eight solar panel systems that will adorn the roof of the Port of Columbia's Blue Mountain Station just west of Dayton city limits. The panels should be in place and operational by the end of this month.

The Port of Columbia, which owns the 6,912-square-foot building, has partnered with Walla Walla Flat Roof Educational Energy (WW-FREE) to install the panels. The solar array should generate 35.4 kilowatts of energy and provide Blue Mountain Station with nearly all of its power for free, according to Frederic Liebrand, a member of WW-FREE's board of directors.

"This is a great partnership," said Port Manager Jennie Dickinson. "The project will save approximately $2,800 in power bills over the year and allow the Port to focus more of our resources on maintaining as well as bringing new jobs to our area."

More than $80,000 from Pacific Power's Blue Sky Washington renewable energy program is funding the project. "And this project is the final piece that will allow us to apply for Silver LEED certification status, making it the first food-processing center in the state to earn that designation," Dickinson said.

LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, is a green building certification program that recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices, through the U.S. Green Building Council.

WW-FREE is a nonprofit organization established solely for the purpose of administering community solar projects in the Dayton and Walla Walla area – a task required under the state law creating the program. Under the program, WW-FREE works on the behalf of private citizens, nonprofits or businesses that purchase all or part of a solar panel installation for a government building. WW-FREE then supervises the acquisition and installation at no charge.

The investor owns his or her portion of the project and leases space from the government entity on whose property the panels are installed. The entity, in this case Blue Mountain Station, receives power from the project for free. In return, investors receive state renewable energy production incentives currently set by the state at $1.08 per kW-h produced per year, up to a maximum of $5,000 per year per participant.

Because of the preparatory design and work done at Blue Mountain Station as well as the support from the Blue Sky program, the cost for a system estimated to earn the full $5,000 per year is low – less than $15,000, Liebrand said. Under the current law, incentive payments continue through June 2020. Participants need not purchase a complete system.

WW-FREE is unique in the state because it administrates the program for charity – in this case, funding endowments for college scholarships for local children, Liebrand said. "Our return from the state is uniquely high (potentially more than 10 percent) because of the extra sunshine this part of the state receives compared to the western half," Liebrand said. "Our hope is that participants – voluntarily, of course – return a portion of that amount to fund education for our children."

After the first partial year of operation, WW-FREE distributed over $1,400 in scholarship endowments to area schools but garnered over $20,000 in pledges for future donations, Liebrand said. And the pace has picked up. In the next year, Liebrand expects scholarship endowments to increase by four times.

Participants can donate any portion of their incentives to scholarship endowments and receive enhanced federal tax advantages, Liebrand said. The distribution of funds is supervised by WW-FREE's board, which includes educators or administrators from each of the area colleges as well as representatives from Columbia REA and Pacific Power.

"This wouldn't be possible without the support of our utilities," Liebrand said. "And they've each been wonderful." WW-FREE operates four other area projects, including at Walla Walla Regional Airport, the Walla Walla Wastewater Treatment Plant, and SEA-TECH (the Southeast Area Technical Skills Center), located at Walla Walla Community College.

The port is using Blue Sky funds to finance about half of the solar array being installed at the station, Liebrand said. The other panels are privately owned. Two complete systems are still available for purchase, and Liebrand is in the process of contacting area charitable groups about owning a system dedicated entirely to scholarships.

"We don't want to take any funds from any existing charitable work," Liebrand said. "But we'd love to raise funds for them to own a system to be able to do even more good."

For more information about WW-FREE, visit the organization's website at ww-free.com.