The City of Benton City is in the heart of abundant orchards, vineyards and small farms in the South Central part of Washington State.
The area also ripe with wind turbines and other renewable energy systems. The people in this community are very forward thinking, so when Apollo Solutions Group first approached the City about the Department of Commerce Solar Grants available to them and how the Department of Enterprise Services Energy Program could facilitate this project, the City became very interested in exploring a Solar Project further.
After performing a Preliminary Energy Analysis it became very apparent that the City would be eligible for a Solar Grant. This made the project more attractive to the City as they made it known early on in the process that the project would have to be completely self-funding, meaning that the energy produced by the solar array would have to cover the payment of any loan the City would have to take on top of the Department of Commerce’s Solar Grant.
Apollo was successful in applying for, and securing a solar grant on behalf of the City of Benton City which covered two-thirds of the cost of the project. The 72 kW Fixed Solar Array, located south of their Wastewater Treatment Plant, will produce nearly $10,000 annually in utility cost savings.
