Portland General Electric is funding a solar project for Catholic Community Services that will cut the nonprofit’s utility by up to 20 percent.
The utility awarded a grant of $96,500 from its Renewal Development Fund to the Salem-based relief agency.
That will cover most of the cost of a project estimated to cost $113,600 to install a solar array on the nonprofit’s administrative headquarters, the Bishop Steiner Building. The building is in the Northgate area of Salem, at 3737 Portland Rd. N.E.
PGE each year awards grants for renewable energy projects, funded by customers through the utility’s Green Future program.
The Salem project has to be completed by June 2024.
“We are working on a schedule with our contractor that would have us done much sooner, potentially by this fall,” according to Mona Roberto Hayes, chief communications officer for Catholic Community Services.
In the joint announcement, the nonprofit said that money saved by cutting its electricity costs will be shifted to its programs and services.
“An interpretative exhibit will engage the community on the tenets of renewal energy and the array will be used as an example in educational programs” provided by Catholic Community Services, according to the announcement.
Josh Graves, the nonprofit’s CEO, said the project was about more than saving energy.
“Engaging this neighborhood and the community members we serve in a renewable energy project is a way to promote feelings of connection and value within the community and a way of addressing equity in the active shaping of our world,” Graves said in the announcement.
Catholic Community Services, founded in 1938, serves 5,000 children and adults in 11 programs such as behavioral health and community homes for those with disabilities.
Reach Host Wendy Brokaw at [email protected] or (503) 588-2288.
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Les Zaitz is editor and CEO of Salem Reporter. He co-founded the news organization in 2018. He has been a journalist in Oregon for nearly 50 years in both daily and community newspapers and digital news services. He is nationally recognized for his commitment to local journalism. He also is editor and publisher of the Malheur Enterprise in Vale, Oregon.
