On October 29th the Evergreen State College and Olympia Community Solar hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the completion of the Thunderdome Solar Project! 

Students at Evergreen have long envisioned a solar energy powered campus. Several student projects over the years have led to solar installations on the Daniel J. Evans Library, the modular housing, and on Evergreen Tacoma campus. In 2023, a group of visionary students led this effort to successfully fund the largest solar project in the College’s history. In 2023 Committee members Emma Wright and Keira Jensen worked with Olympia Community Solar to assess the feasibility of installing solar on the Covered Recreation Pavilion (known affectionately to students as the “Thunderdome”). The Pavilion was recently re-roofed, has excellent solar exposure, and its roof is visible to the public. The project team worked collaboratively to draft an application to Evergreen’s Clean Energy Committee in May 2023. The Clean Energy Committee is a student-led group that manages income from the clean energy fund, a voluntary fee students may pay into with their tuition. The original purpose of the fund was to offset Evergreen’s electricity consumption with emission offsets, and it’s done so successfully for almost 20 years. Over time the cost of emission offsets has decreased, so extra funding is allocated to fund student projects on campus.

The Clean Energy Committee approved the application, awarding about $264,000 to fund the solar installation, the college’s staff time, and educational programing. This source of funding means the project was not only student led, but also student funded. The project team secured approval from the college, and the project was installed this summer by Mad Energy NW. 

The electricity from the project will save about $13,000 in energy costs the first year! Over the approximately 25 year lifespan of the project, the college will receive at least $440,000 in energy benefits. Savings from the solar will directly benefit the college by making more resources available for student support and services. The solar energy will reduce the college’s carbon footprint by 88 thousand pounds of CO2 emissions, equivalent to planting 723 trees every year, or not driving 111,000 miles.