Source: Katie Hayes, The Daily Chronicle, October 30, 2018.
Energy: Board Grants $3.2 Million to Cities, Schools Contingent on Further Grants
TransAlta’s Coal Transition Board awarded more than $520,000 to five solar projects in Lewis County, it announced in a press release Monday afternoon. The funds are contingent on the applicants receiving grants from the Washington State Department of Commerce.
Across the state, the board approved $3.2 million in funding for 18 proposed solar projects. The money from the TransAlta Centralia Coal Transition Grants Energy Technology Board will benefit public school districts, communities and a rural hospital.
In Lewis County, specifically, the Energy Technology Board awarded $522,833 for solar projects for Morton General Hospital, the City of Napavine, the City of Winlock, Napavine School District and the City of Mossyrock.
“This significant investment in local solar projects around the state will improve the sustainability of the power requirements for these towns, schools and hospital,” the press release reads. “It is projected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 35,000 tons over the life of these systems. The Board is pleased to be part of developing solar resources in Washington.”
According to the press release, the funding for the projects is contingent on applicants receiving grants from the Washington State Department of Commerce, which are currently under consideration, and for funding partners to complete the projects.
“We had said if they didn’t get that grant we would not fund them,” said Lewis County Commissioner Edna Fund. “It would stay in the pot as we look at other projects.”