Palouse solar farm to power city well

A small field of solar panels are set to power a water pump in Palouse by this fall after a $277,000 grant was awarded by the state.

The money comes from the Washington Department of Enterprise Services.

“Energy efficiency,” said Palouse mayor Michael Echanove. “That’s kind of the big picture on this.”

The solar farm – to be made of up 2.5x5-foot non-tracking panels – is expected to save the town $8,000 per year in electricity costs.

Apollo Solutions of Spokane is the contractor on the project with subcontractor Pennell Renewables (also of Spokane) expected to take six weeks on the installatio...