Wallowa County chieftain., August 07, 2019, Page 10, Image 10

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NEWS
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
4H HORSE SHOW
The event began Sunday morning, and includes Western and hunt-jump classes, as well as green horses and roping
Ellen Morris Bishop
Ellen Morris Bishop
Destiny Wecks competes in the Intermediate Western Equitation class at the Wallowa
County Fair 4H horse show. Wecks, who is on the Fair 4H court and also rides with the
Tuckerettes, won her class and was invited back for the fi nal round in Intermediate
Horsemanship.
Junior Western Equitation judge Dr. Hope Flint provides evaluations and advice to
entrants in the Junior Western Equitation class at the Wallowa County Fair monday
morning. The evaluations were helpful and positive. Tyler Evans, in fl owered shirt,
second from left, won this class.
Solar power projects awarded $340,000 to move forward
Target solar power
for aff ordable
housing
‘EXPENSES KEEP
GOING UP, BUT BY
USING SOLAR WE
CAN SLOW DOWN
THE RISING COSTS,
FREEZE IT OR
MAYBE REVERSE IT.’
By Ellen Morris Bishop
Wallowa County Chieftain
and
Sabrina Thompson
EO Media Group
Two northeastern Oregon
solar power projects, one in
Wallowa and the other in La
Grande, have been awarded a
total of $340,000 in grants to
bring solar power to afford-
able housing. They were
among only six recipients
statewide of Oregon Depart-
ment of Energy awards
totaling
$1.25
million.
Fleet Development was the
awardee of both local grants,
which fund solar power for
affordable housing. Funds
are part of ODOE’s Renew-
able Energy Development
Grant (RED) fund. The pro-
gram was launched in 2012,
and this year marks the eighth
and fi nal round of funding.
Large projects that pro-
duce more than 300 kilowatts
were considered separately
from smaller ones so that
more opportunities for fund-
ing could occur, according
to ODOE Public Affairs &
Outreach Coordinator Jenni-
fer Kalez. The Wallowa proj-
ect generates 860 kw; the La
Grande project is somewhat
smaller.
“Applications were scored
based on a number of cri-
teria, including amount of
energy generated, job cre-
ation, community benefi ts
and more,” a press release
from ODOE said. “Points
were also awarded for proj-
ects that were designed with
resilience in mind.”
Ryan Sheehy,
project manager
Ellen Morris Bishop
Ryan Sheehy’s Fleet Development has received a $250,000 grant from the Oregon Department
of Energy to support their installation of solar power for aff ordable housing in Wallowa County.
The panels will be located on a lot west of the Wallowa High School football fi eld.
In Union County:
Union County Solar LLC
received $90,00 to help
complete the project in La
Grande. The funds will be
released once the project is
completed and after a review
determines all conditions of
the performance agreement
have been met.
La Grande’s project is to
install rooftop solar panels on
three low-income properties,
all of which are managed by
Viridian Management Com-
pany. The fi rst property, the
La Grande Retirement Apart-
ments complex, has already
been completed, and work on
the Thunderbird Apartments
will begin today followed
by Clover Glen in Septem-
ber. All work is planned to
be completed by the start of
October.
“The goal is to reduce the
cost of operations for build-
ings and make it more sus-
tainable,” project manager
Ryan Sheehy said. “Expenses
keep going up, but by using
solar we can slow down
the rising costs, freeze it or
maybe reverse it.”
They found this proj-
ect was possible only after
two long years of research.
According to Sheehy it is
hard to put solar on the roof-
tops of affordable housing
due to archaic regulations
and codes. However, they
have found a way to bring
solar to La Grande’s low-in-
come community, and other
areas of Oregon, and can do
so thanks to grants like the
one they just received.
“As a business, we look
to meet needs,” Sheehy said.
“But there’s also an altruis-
tic component — we want
to help people, especially in
(Northeast Oregon).”
In Wallowa County:
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Energy has awarded
a $250,000 grant to Ryan
Sheehy’s Fleet Develop-
ment’s affordable housing
solar energy project based in
Wallowa. The funds can be
used at any phase of the proj-
ect, including investing in the
YOUR
HOMETOWN
PAPER
at home and away!
panels and hardware them-
selves, Sheehy said.
Fleet Development has
planned an 860 KW solar
array to be constructed at a
6-acre site across from the
Wallowa High School foot-
ball fi eld, just outside the
west city limits of Wallowa.
The power from the solar
panels will be subscribed
to low-income power users
through Pacifi c Power. The
project’s total investment will
be around $2.5 million when
completed.
“I’m surprised that we
were awarded the entire
$250,000 grant,” Sheehy
said. “Evidently ODOE rec-
ognized that we had checked
all the boxes—a rural com-
munity, help for folks in
affordable housing, and an
economical, very effi cient
installation.”
The community solar
option is new in Oregon,
established by Senate Bill
1547, passed in 2016. The
bill’s dual intent was to elim-
inate coal generating power
plants and establish renew-
able energy as Oregon’s
dominant power source. The
bill stipulates that 10% of
the total generating capacity
of community solar projects
be made available to low-in-
come residential customers.
Tenants can opt into solar
power on their electric bill.
It doesn’t mean the energy
in their wires will come from
this facility, but the subscrip-
tion enables the renewable
energy to enter the grid..”
Before Fleet Development
can begin fi nal construction
on the Wallowa site, permits
and additional planning are
required. The Community
Solar Program Administrator
(PA) must produce extensive
guidelines that determine
how the power produced by
HB 1547’s solar arrays will
be distributed and how it will
be accessed by low income
power users. Distribution will
be administered by Energy
Solutions Corporation, based
upon the implementation
rules and guidelines.
One factor that may make
or break Fleet’s project is the
rate of return on power pro-
duction, Sheehy said. “The
rate of return is pretty mar-
ginal on these projects. We
20
hope to break even—but we
might not.” And that could
mean that Fleet Develop-
ment might drop the proj-
ect. “At the end of the day
we would not do it if we lost
money,” he said. “But we
are putting trust in the fact
that the state wants the pro-
gram to succeed.”
There is another hurdle
to clear to make for smooth
solar sailing. There is a lim-
ited amount of wattage (12
MW) available for solar
distribution at the high-
er-paying retail rate that
Fleet Development needs
to at least break even on their
project. More than 45 solar
power projects, some of them
boasting 3MW of power pro-
duction, will be competing
for the higher-paying 12 MW
slots available. “It could all
be gone in just seconds, and
maybe to just four solar pro-
viders across Pacifi c Power’s
grid,” Sheehy said. “It will be
quite the food fi ght for those
available 12 MW. Its possible
that other power providers
could capture all the available
wattage assignments, and we
just simply wouldn’t be pro-
viding power to the grid for
low income use. So there’s
a little bit of a gamble here.”
While that possibility exists,
Sheehy is hopeful that should
this worst case scenario come
to pass, that the PUC would
open more wattage for Fleet
Development and others to
provide power to the grid.”
“We’re planning to move
along,” he said. “Tentatively
we’re planning to begin con-
struction in the spring of
2020. Probably the fi rst thing
we’ll do is the landscaping
and vegetative screening so
the view-shed in Wallowa
won’t be affected by the solar
panel array.”
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Healthy
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Bu Serving families and children in
Wallowa County and beyond!
Thurday, August 15, 11am - 2pm
207 NE Park St., Enterprise
Contact Jennifer Cooney • jcooney@wallowa.com • 541-805-9630
209 NW First St., Enterprise OR • 541-426-4567 • wallowa.com
BQ,
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Building Healthy Families
541-426-9411 • oregonbhf.org