The Chehalis School District has begun installing solar modules in the W.F. West High School parking lot to meet the state’s clean building energy standards.
The summer project broke ground June 15, and is slated to finish before the start of the school year. The installation, when complete, will include 425 solar modules across two canopy structures, one spanning roughly 5,568 square feet, the other 6,262 square feet.
A rooftop array of 76 solar modules was installed on the school’s STEM wing in April.
Under the state’s Clean Buildings bill, first signed into law in 2019, large non-residential buildings — like schools — are now required to comply with the Clean Buildings Performance Standard (CBPS), or face financial penalties.
To meet its goals, the district teamed up with McKinstry, a construction and energy services company headquartered in Seattle.
“School districts across Washington are balancing aging facilities, rising energy costs and new requirements under the CBPS,” Jacob Gloss, McKinstry’s K-12 account executive, said in a Friday email. “Projects like this demonstrate how those priorities can be addressed together.”
Derek McMillion, the district’s facilities supervisor, said the project is funded entirely through a grant from the Washington state Department of Commerce, the administrator of the CBPS.
“We’re spending zero money on this,” Carrina Stanton, the district’s public information officer, said. “We’re also not losing any parking spots, which our high schoolers are very happy about.”
Gloss said McKinstry helped the district identify — and later apply for — the Solar plus Storage for Resilient Communities grant, securing roughly $2.1 million in project funding.
McKinstry hired Sphere Solar Energy as a subcontractor to install the modules.
The installation, Gloss said, will bring W.F. West into compliance with its energy use intensity (EUI) target under the CBPS.
Its value, he added, goes beyond energy generation and compliance.
“The parking canopy structures provide covered parking, the STEM wing array operates on its own dedicated meter so students can access live generation data for classroom instruction and the district will continue to reduce its energy costs for years to come,” Gloss said.
According to Gloss, the district will save money by generating its own power, reducing the amount of electricity it needs to buy from the Lewis County Public Utility District.
“If the system produces more electricity than the building needs at a given time, the excess can be exported to the grid and the district may receive a utility credit,” Gloss said. “Those credits are an added benefit, but the primary financial value comes from reducing the district's ongoing electricity purchases.”
W.F. West was built in 1951 — long before any established statewide energy standards — and later remodeled in 1992. The STEM wing was added in 2018.
According to Gloss, the district has been proactive in evaluating its varied school buildings before compliance deadlines approach.
“This project shows that compliance does not have to be viewed as a burden,” Gloss said. “With thoughtful planning, school districts can meet state requirements while modernizing facilities, lowering operating costs and creating new educational opportunities for students.”
McMillion called the project a “very unique opportunity.” The plan, he said, is for the parking lot modules to be operational by September.
“And then they flip it on,” McMillion said.
