PUD to celebrate opening of south Everett solar project
EVERETT — What was once a field of overgrown grass near a south Everett park is now home to a small solar array, with proceeds from the facility’s generated power helping people with lower incomes pay their energy bills.
The Snohomish County Public Utility District’s solar facility just east of the skate park at Walter E. Hall Park along Casino Road is now up and running, officials say, and they’re planning to celebrate the power-generating panels with a ribbon-cutting party on Sept. 19.
The $2.5 million south Everett solar facility was largely paid for by state grants. The Public Utilities District purchases the power generated by the new facility — about 400,000 kilowatt hours per year — and that money is sent into the PUD’s Community Energy Fund, which provides bill assistance to energy customers with lower incomes. Most of the money for the fund is donated by PUD customers, according to the utility.
The solar facility has already been generating power for a while; it started operating in December 2024. The Public Utilities District held back on hosting a grand opening party until public artwork along the project was installed and the city of Everett completed a new pathway that runs between 90th Street Southwest and Walter E. Hall Park, just by the solar facility.
Since the facility started generating power, it’s provided about $40,000 for the Community Energy Fund, said Suzy Oversvee, a senior program manager at the PUD. It’s expected to generate about $25,000 per year for the fund.
In 2019, the PUD built a solar facility in the Arlington area. That was primarily funded by community members, who put upfront investment into the project in exchange for future energy credits, saving on their power bills.
By 2020, the PUD was looking for locations for a new community solar project and landed on an area near Walter E. Hall Park, partly because that area uses more electricity in the summer months and because the utility district wanted the project to be more visible to the community, Oversvee said.
“We really wanted something that was more accessible to folks,” she said in an interview Monday.
The section of land next to a parking lot where the solar project now sits was previously underutilized, located between a city reservoir to the east and a practice area for golfers to the west. That plot of grassy land wasn’t much more than a place where people went to retrieve lost golf balls, said Katherine Phillips, a capital projects coordinator at the city’s parks department.
“There was not any really formal use, and it really wasn’t accessible because the grass was really tall,” Phillips said Monday. “It wasn’t like you were going to have a picnic there.”
In 2022, the city signed a 15-year lease agreement with the PUD to build the solar project there, a lease that can be extended if both Everett and the PUD agree. The utility district worked with local nonprofits and artists to create a public art installation along the fences of the facility, bestowing it with the name “El Sol al Alance de tus Manos” — that translates to “The sun at your fingertips.”
“It has become just as much an art project as it is a solar project,” Oversvee said.
Students at Horizon Elementary School painted a total of 1,000 wooden suns and hands that were installed across the fence of the solar facility, while three local artists, Ruben Trujullo, Yessica Marquez and Luisana Hernandez contributed other artwork to the fence. Some of the artwork, like dragonflies made out of wire, Incorporated recycled material from the PUD.
“This totally exceeded my expectations,” Oversvee said. “When we were talking about a community art project, I had no idea this was what would come of it. It’s just incredible.”
Alongside the solar facility is a new trail connecting Walter E. Hall Park to communities to the southeast of the park. Before that trail opened, the park’s only entrance was on Casino Road.
Part of Everett’s plans to improve its parks is to find ways to remove barriers to accessing its recreation areas throughout the city, Phillips said. The Westmont and Holly neighborhoods that surround the south and east sides of Walter E. Hall Park make up one of the densest areas of Everett, and a trail connecting the neighborhood directly to the park can help cut down on travel times for people looking to golf, skate, play soccer or just enjoy a day outdoors.
“We wanted to create something that would be immediately useful to folks to access that park,” Phillips said. “That’s really what the trail is about, is getting from the Westmont neighborhood into Walter E. Hall Park and the amenities that are there.”
The paved pathway, which is ADA accessible, is about 1,900 feet long and cost just under $600,000. City officials worked alongside with the PUD to create the path, making sure it didn’t interfere with the solar facility while building it close enough that those on the path could enjoy the public art, Phillips said.
Solar energy makes up a small percentage of where the PUD gets its power, about 2.2% of the total energy used by the district. Most of the electricity for PUD customers comes from hydroelectric power. The district’s integrated resource plan, a long-term planning document, states that it hopes to develop more local solar resources across the county.
The ribbon cutting beginning 10 a.m. Sept. 19 will include speeches from local officials and events for children and families. Solar ovens will be available for families to make s’mores and free shaved ice will be on hand, PUD spokesperson Kellie Stickney said Monday. Artists and solar experts that worked on the project will also be at the event to talk about the new solar facility, located at 1226 West Casino Road in Everett.
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.