Blue Mountain Station to Get Solar

DAYTON - The Port of Columbia is joining in a partnership with a group called Walla Walla Flat Roof Educational Energy - or "WW-FREE" - to install a solar power generation system on the roof of the first Blue Mountain Station building. The building - the first at the Port's new artisan food center here - is cur- rently under construction, and is expected to be com- pleted by October.

Port Manager Jennie Dickinson says the installation could save the Port as much $2,800 in energy costs each year. And it won't cost the Port a dime.

WW-FREE is a non- profit community solar energy organization created by Walla Walla University physics professor Frederic Liebrand. Using a renew- able energy credit program passed by the Washington State Legislature in 2010, WW-FREE works with pri- vate investors who purchase all or part of a solar panel installation on a government building., In return, inves- tors receive renewable en- ergy production incentives offered by the state.

WW- FREE recently completed a project at the Walla Walla Airport, in partnership with the Port of Walla Walla. The group is also initiating solar projects this summer with Walla Walla Community College, adding solar panels to the new vocational Skills Cen- ter building there, and with the City of Walla Walla at its wastewater treatment facility.

Pacific Power is the part- nering utility for the Port of Walla Walla, WWCC and Blue Mountain Station projects. Columbia REA is the partner for the City of Walla Walla installation.

With all of these proj- ects, investors can provide between $250 and $25,000 toward purchase of the systems. In return, those investors receive a production incentive of $1.08 per kilo- watt-hour (kW-h) produced. A 3.8 kW system will cost $25,000 and return $5,000 per year through 2020, according to Liebrand. "We believe these systems will more than pay for themselves over the seven years," he said.

The IRS considers the state incentives cost reduc- tions and not taxable income. Incentive payments are distributed once each year by WW-FREE in coop- eration with the partnering utility.

The investor owns his or her portion of the project and leases space from the government entity, Liebrand said. That entity receives power from the project, free of charge.

For each project WW- FREE will purchase solar panels and inverters on behalf of investors and ar- range their installation. The group will also provide reporting to the state and handle dispersal of funds from local utilities. All of these services are provided without charge.

The solar panels will be manufactured by Sili- con Energy of Marysville, Wash. (The state requires that systems be manufac- tured in Washington.) Li- ebrand says they are the highest quality panels commercially available, and have been tested for a life span of 100 years with no measurable degradation.

Liebrand also said that WW-FREE is the first com- munity solar program in the state that has been set up primarily to benefit chari- ties. When they sign up to provide funds for one of the projects, investors can select one of several scholarship funds to receive the renew- able energy incentive. The charitable contribution is optional however.

Investors receive mul- tiple tax benefits from the program, according to Liebrand. First, investors re- ceive an initial renewable energy tax credit for install- ing the solar project. Second, they receive a chari- table contribution tax credit for the value of any funds that go to the scholarship charity. Third, at the end of the program, the solar panels and equipment can be donated to the govern- ment entity that leased the space for the project, and the investor will receive the additional tax credit for that donation.

WW-FREE has set up scholarship funds for inves- tors to choose from at Walla Walla University, Whitman College, WWCC and the Walla Walla School Dis- trict. Liebrand said that the WWSD fund is set up to benefit students at all high schools in the area, and investors can specify that their contributions should go to students from a particular school, such as Dayton, Waitsburg or Prescott.

Liebrand said that the return on investment for WW-FREE projects should be significantly higher than for similar community solar projects on Washington's west side. "We get 50% more sun over here," he said.

Dickinson says that the WW-FREE program met an important need for Blue Mountain Station. "Right from the beginning, we planned to have solar energy be an important part of Blue Mountain Station," she said.

Dickinson said that the Blue Mountain Station project has a great potential to benefit both the private in- vestor and the Port, through energy cost savings. "Were really excited to participate in this project," she said.

For more information on WW-FREE and the invest- ment opportunity at Blue Mountain Station, go to www.ww-free.com or call the Port of Columbia at 509- 382-2577.