Several years ago, the Benton County Historical Society qualified for a grant to go toward the installation of solar panels on the organization’s museum campus in Philomath.
But the project never happened because the historical society wasn’t able to raise the matching funds that were required to secure the gift.
Now through a renewed effort, the historical society’s Johnson Collections Center, which is located next door to the historic Philomath College building, has several rows of solar panels on the roof. Community leaders, museum leaders and project partners gathered Thursday afternoon to celebrate with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“It was actually kind of really nice to be able to circle back around and say this was a goal before,” Jessica Hougen, BCHS executive director, said following the event.
The solar project was a collaboration of Benton County Historical Society, Corvallis Sustainability Coalition and Oregon Clean Power Cooperative.
“I think that the fact that we can power our historical buildings, which consume more energy than the more efficient ones … and installing clean energy systems is a really positive thing for the community and also for the environment,” Philomath Mayor Chas Jones said. “I’m really encouraged that the museum has taken this step and has the initiative to move in that direction.”
Hougen said the project at Philomath materialized when it was discovered that it was infeasible for solar panels to be installed on the roof of the Corvallis Museum.
“We had actually been talking a little bit about investigating putting solar on Corvallis but it turns out … it’s not a great fit,” Hougen said, referring to nearby buildings that block the sun. “But we were thinking about solar. And then just driving up the driveway (to Philomath Museum) one day, I was like, ‘you know, that’s a nice big roof there.’”
Hougen was talking about the roof of the collections center, a climate-controlled repository for the historical society’s artifacts. So, a possible solar project at Philomath Museum went on her to-do list.
At right around the same time, she was contacted by the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition.
“They reached out and they were like, ‘hey, we do this thing with community investors’ and I thought that sounds amazing — what a great way to allow a lot more community members to get involved,” Hougen said. “I just liked every aspect of the whole thing.”
Funding from Pacific Power’s Blue Sky program participants, Energy Trust of Oregon, and community investors and donors, contributed to the cost of installing the panels on the roof of the 13,500-square-foot facility.
“Sustainability — we’re learning from the past and looking forward to the future,” said Annette Mills, Corvallis Sustainability Coalition facilitator-director. “I think this is a really great example of that.”
The solar energy represents about 90% of the power used by the collections center and the museum — they are on the same meter.
Said Hougen, “We’re already seeing the effects of that on our power bill.”
Hougen didn’t have exact figures handy but she estimated the entire project cost at around $180,000 with each of the three funding sources contributing roughly the same amount.
“I think it almost split out so that the grant was a third of it, the tax credit that we’ll get back was another third of it and then the community investor-donor support part of it was another 30% of it,” Hougen said, stressing that those were ballpark estimates.
Pure Energy Group, which has its corporate office in Jefferson, installed the panels.
Philomath Museum — its primary structure was built in 1867 — might just be the oldest building in the county that’s using electricity generated from solar. The First United Methodist Church in Corvallis had a similar project, Mills said, but the power that’s generated at that site is limited to a community center and not the historic church building itself.
There are plans for a solar project at Oregon State University, which has several historic buildings on its campus. Those plans have not been finalized.
“I really value the historic resources that we have in Benton County,” Mills said. “This is definitely one of those key organizations — the Benton County Historical Society — and it’s really exciting to have this visible solar array here. It’s just a really nice combination.”
BCHS has more plans for Philomath Museum.
“Some of that will be looking at sustainability of the building, our building systems, how well they operate, how we can do better, especially with things like the HVAC,” Hougen said. “Some of it is accessibility as well but you’re going to continue to see improvements and upgrades to our campus out here.”
