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Steve Jackson reports.
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Saranac Building, downtown Spokane
Credit WADOE
Advocates for solar power are holding a special celebration this week in Spokane.
The event is sponsored by Eco Depot of Spokane, in honor of the 1 million watts of solar power they have installed in Eastern Washington. The company has been working with solar power generation since the year 2000.
The company first major project was installing a solar system in the Community Building in downtown Spokane.
They have also done numerous private homes, one low income housing project, as well as the Kettle Falls Middle school, and the Columbia basin skills center in Moses Lake.
The company’s Bruce Gage says solar power is more popular than ever for small businesses and homes, in part, because of its increasing affordability.
“Probably back when we did the first commercial solar array in Spokane, it was on the Community Building, and we closed that deal in 2000, and installed it in 2001, when they were doing the whole remodel, that was probably 12 dollars a watt, now were at about 3 dollars a watt,” says Gage.
The “Megawatt Solarbration” will also feature a screening the feature the new documentary film, Solar Roots, which takes a look at the people who pioneered home grown solar power in the US.
Gage says in the early days, back in the 1970’s only select industries like Telecommunications had access to the silicon panels to generate solar power.
“Some hippies in northern California caught on to this cause they were charging their off grid systems with generators and car alternators and those kind of things, finally got these corporations to sell them some solar panels, as homeowners, and they started charging batteries and running of their off grid with solar power,” said Gage.
The Solarbration event is happening at the Saranac building Thursday afternoon at five o’clock. The film Solar Roots will screen at the Magic lantern at 3 and 6:30 PM at the Magic Lantern Theater. Tickets are available through eventbright.com
