CWU receives nearly $1 million for solar decarbonization projects

Central Washington University’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) features a number of bold initiatives that are designed to limit the university’s environmental impact, while also benefiting the Ellensburg community.

One of the CAP’s primary objectives is a commitment to help CWU become a zero-carbon campus — a goal that can only be achieved by a broad, well-coordinated approach. Helping fuel this effort will be a pair of grants awarded by the Washington State Department of Commerce, which announced the recipients of the Community Decarbonization 2024 Grant Program on June 17.

Among the awardees were two CWU initiatives aimed at further leveraging solar power in the campus’ journey to full decarbonization. The two grant awards total nearly $1 million combined, and they will be funded by Washington’s Climate Commitment Act (CCA).

The CCA supports Washington’s climate action efforts by putting cap-and-invest dollars to work reducing climate pollution, creating jobs, and improving public health. Information about the CCA is available online. 

“This Climate Commitment Act funding is putting people to work on projects in communities most harmed by climate change and ultimately helping us provide cleaner air to all of our children,” Washington Governor Jay Inslee said. “The response to these grant programs is an exciting sign of how eager businesses and organizations are to design and build clean energy and climate resilient assets for their communities.”

CWU was awarded $473,467 to install a 100 kilowatt solar system on the roof of Dugmore Hall, and an additional $451,642 to conduct a large-scale solar study for the rest of the CWU Ellensburg campus as a way of identifying additional opportunities to significantly expand solar capacity.

CAP contributor and CWU Professor of Geological Sciences Susan Kaspari said this capacity will feed into other campus decarbonization initiatives.

“We’ll be able to develop a campus-wide solar development plan and install solar on Dugmore Hall, which will be a very visible example to our students of our efforts to have a 100% emission free electricity source,” she said. “Students are very excited about CWU’s plans for geothermal, and many are aware that geothermal and the transition to electric vehicles will require more electricity.  CWU is planning ahead to meet this demand with on-site renewable electricity.”

CWU Sustainability Officer Jeff Bousson is confident that the CCA funding will play a critical role in driving the university’s decarbonization efforts.

“As CWU continues to move forward with utilizing geothermal technology to heat and cool our buildings, in addition to planning for electric vehicle infrastructure, we are going to need additional clean electricity for many years to come,” he said.

“As we experience record-breaking extreme heat across the Pacific Northwest and observe abnormally warm ocean temperatures, largely due to human-caused climate change driven by fossil fuel consumption, these awards support our university’s commitment to reducing pollution and implementing sustainable strategies listed in our Climate Action Plan."