Samish Island residents and Puget Sound Energy staff gathered Tuesday to celebrate a recently-installed solar panel and battery system at the Samish Island fire station.
Samish Island resident Bob Pavia first took on the project in 2018. Spurred by the idea of finding a way to support the fire station in case of an emergency or power outage, Pavia reached out to Skagit County Fire District 5, which operates the station, and Puget Sound Energy for a solution.
Six years later, after hitting roadblocks and finding solutions to technical questions, the project came to fruition with a large solar panel on the ground behind the fire station and a 336 kilowatt-hour battery storage unit beside it. The battery is also connected to solar panels on the houses of three neighbors of the station, including Pavia’s.