PSE’s Community Solar Program partners with City of Bonney Lake

The fourth Community Solar site was recently installed atop Bonney Lake’s storage reservoir

Bellevue, Washington (11/15/2022) Puget Sound Energy (PSE) partnered with the City of Bonney Lake to install its fourth Community Solar site, allowing PSE customers in the Pierce County area to subscribe to renewable energy.

The installation at the city’s peaking storage reservoir will host the solar array featuring 1,368 solar panels and provide 450 kilowatts of AC power, enabling subscribers to share the benefits of solar without the need to install or maintain their own rooftop solar array.

Community Solar is a voluntary renewable energy program that allows customers to subscribe to 100% local solar energy. PSE has partnered with communities and organizations across its service area to build multiple new, local solar energy installations for the program.

“Partnering with the City of Bonney Lake is the right thing to do for our customers in that part of Piece County who are looking to share the benefits of local solar,” said Andy Wappler, PSE Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer. “Being able to offer our customers the option to subscribe to renewable energy generated within our communities is helping us work together to create a cleaner energy future for all.”

The Community Solar program launched in 2021 with three sites located within its service area; one in Kittitas County near Ellensburg, the other at Olympia High School, and a third at Pine Lake middle School in Sammamish.

“A project like this helps the City of Bonney Lake accomplish objectives we set through our comprehensive planning efforts while also creating a more livable community,” said Ryan Johnstone, Public Services Director for the City of Bonney Lake. “Having the opportunity to work with an innovative partner like PSE was a great experience.”

There will be 246 general shares and 62 income-eligible shares available for subscription through this Community Solar project. The solar energy generated by customers’ shares reduces their carbon footprint by replacing some or all of their regular electricity use with renewable energy, allowing them to share the benefits of solar without the need to install or maintain their own rooftop solar panels.

Community Solar is 100% local and the solar energy projects in the program are located on rooftops of publicly owned buildings and properties across PSE’s service area, which means customers can support a project they see is making a difference within the communities PSE serves.

PSE is committed to working together to create a cleaner energy future for all while setting an aspirational goal to be a Beyond Net Zero Carbon company by 2045. PSE will target reducing its own carbon emissions to net zero and go beyond by helping other sectors to enable carbon reduction across the state of Washington. Partnering with customers like the City of Bonney Lake helps PSE engage more people in that mission.

PSE recently received a Green Power Leadership Award in “Market Development” from the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) at the REM conference. PSE was recognized for “promoting and expanding the use of clean, renewable energy” through its Community Solar program, which is the first renewable energy program at PSE to offer income-eligible customers the opportunity to receive the benefits of solar energy at no cost.

To learn more about Community Solar, visit pse.com/communitysolar.

Check out this video to see how the new Community Solar site brings renewable energy to Bonney Lake and beyond.

Media Contact:

Andrew Padula, 1-888-831-7250, psenewsroom@pse.com