State to Drop $1.4M on Solar Panels for Schools, Public Buildings
The Washington State Department of Commerce (DOC) announced 14 new grants to install solar panels at a variety of schools and buildings.
Three of the projects in Eastern Washington
The DOC says $1.4 million will be going to these projects, which include the city of Medical Lake wastewater treatment plant, and Palouse High School in Whitman County, north of Pullman.
The third is at an elementary school in Spokane.
The Medical Lake project will provide, when finished, 104 kW or kilowatts of electrical energy, and the Palouse project 103 kW. By comparison, the average 2,000-square-foot home requires about 32 kW daily to operate, according to the website texaselectricityratings.com. This 32 kW figure is considered the US average, with some variations.
However, DOC did not say what the daily or annual power requirements are for these 14 projects. The only indicator given by DOC was included in their informational release. which read in part:
"The projects awarded funding in this round total over 1.3 megawatts of solar and will produce more than 1.5 million kWh annually—equivalent to powering about 130 homes."
The combined kilowatts of these projects are 1,381, or about 1.3 megawatts. The grants are part of an ongoing effort to increase solar use in WA state.
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