Solar canopy is up, storage battery is next
By Griffin Beach on Thursday, June 12th, 2025 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Wednesday for a new solar canopy at the Pendleton Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery Facility. Pendleton partnered with renewable energy company Ameresco to construct the 240-kilowatt solar canopy system. The system is designed to generate 325,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually, offsetting approximately 30 percent of the facility’s energy use.
“For large energy users like wastewater plants producing power behind the meter that they consume 100 percent of the power this generates it’s a perfect application,” said Ameresco West Region Vice President of Business Development Brian Solan.
The canopy, with its roof comprised entirely of solar panels, shades the facility’s chlorine contact chamber which assists with the water treatment processes.
“I took the data from NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) website for cloud cover, and I compared that to our chlorine usage and what I found was there’s a direct correlation that says on cloudy days we use less chlorine,” said the wastewater facility’s Superintendent Kyle Willman.
He added it also has the added benefit of cooling the water. The project also allowed for the installation of catwalks over the chamber’s ponds to make cleaning and maintaining the chamber safer and easier.
With the solar panels installed the next step is to install a storage battery to store the energy the panels create.
