The city of Pendleton has received two grants totaling more than $1.6 million from Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) to support community energy resilience.
ODOE announced the grants in its Community Renewable Energy Grant Program in October, including two projects for the city of Pendleton.
“We are pleased to receive two grant opportunities for our community and look forward to the next steps to deliver the projects,” Public Works Director Bob Patterson said. “Both projects will provide additional resilience options for our community when completed.”
The city received funding for each a Construction Renewable Project grant and a Construction Resilience grant, one to install battery storage and one to install solar panels at the Wastewater Treatment Resource Recovery Facility (WWTRRF).
- The $816,424 Construction Renewable grant will fully fund a 100-kilowatt energy storage system at a solar power site near the city Water Treatment Plant . The closed circuit will allow power to flow to the water treatment plant during storm outages and save diesel.
- The $850,000 Construction Resilience funding will cover 50 percent of a project to cover the Chlorine Contact Chamber at the WWTRRF with solar panels. The solar array shading is designed to reduce facility power costs by integrating a renewable resource, providing at least 240-300 kilowatt hours of power. Additionally, placing the panels over the chlorine contact chamber provides shade to cool the water and reduce the amount of chlorine chemical lost due to UV degradation. The city of Pendleton expects to see long-term cost savings when the solar array is completed, and city staff is also pursing Energy Trust of Oregon funding to make up part of the city match amount.
Funded through House Bill 2021, the ODOE Community Renewable Energy Grant Program received 68 applications representing $27 million in funding requests. Projects were selected based on project feasibility, equity, cost savings, and economic development. Across the state, ODOE funded 21 projects for a total of about $12 million.
