A 400-kilowatt solar array on Casino Road has already channeled $40,000 to help lower-income Everett households pay their electric bills. On Saturday, Sept. 19, residents can see it up close.
Snohomish County Public Utility District (PUD) and the City of Everett will host a public celebration from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1226 W. Casino Rd., adjacent to Walter E. Hall Park.
The event doubles as a ribbon cutting for a new ADA-accessible trail linking the Westmont and Holly neighborhoods to the park.
The PUD's event page lists Mayor Cassie Franklin, PUD Commissioners Julieta Altamirano-Crosby and Sid Logan, and Everett City Councilmember Luis Burbano as speakers. Local artist Aurelio Valdez will perform after the speeches.
How the money works
The solar facility sits on 1.75 acres of city-owned land and generates enough electricity to power about 30 homes per year, according to the PUD. All revenue from that power goes to the Community Energy Fund, administered by St. Vincent de Paul, which pays down electric bills for income-qualified households.
Since the array began operating in December 2024, it has sent roughly $40,000 to the fund, PUD Senior Program Manager Suzy Oversvee told The Daily Herald in a Sept. 1 interview. The PUD expects the facility to generate about $25,000 per year going forward.
The $2.5 million project was largely funded by state and federal grants and tax credits. More than 80% of costs came from the Washington Clean Energy Fund, administered by the state Department of Commerce, the Community Solar Expansion Program through the WSU Energy Program, and a Federal Investment Tax Credit from the U.S. Department of Energy. The City of Everett signed a 15-year lease with the PUD in 2022 to host the panels on city land.
Art, a trail and a neighborhood name
Community members in the Casino Road neighborhood named the project "El Sol al Alcance de tus Manos," which translates roughly to "the sun at your fingertips." The name reflects the idea that renewable energy is within everyone's reach.
The site features a mixed-media art display by local artists Luisana Hernandez, Ruben Trujillo and Yessica Marquez. Nearly 1,000 suns and hands painted by Horizon Elementary School students line the facility's fence. The Herald reported that the PUD delayed the grand opening until the artwork was installed and the city finished the new pathway.
"It has become just as much an art project as it is a solar project," Oversvee said in the Sept. 1 Herald interview.
New trail opens a second park entrance
The celebration also marks the opening of a 1,900-foot paved pathway connecting 90th Street Southwest to Walter E. Hall Park. The trail cost just under $600,000. It is ADA accessible.
Before the trail opened, the park's only entrance was on Casino Road. Katherine Phillips, a capital projects coordinator in Everett's parks department, told the Herald in a Sept. 1 interview that the trail gives the Westmont and Holly neighborhoods direct access to the park's golf, skating and soccer facilities.
What to know if you go
The ribbon cutting runs from 10 to 11 a.m., followed by a community celebration from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free shave ice and solar oven kits for making s'mores at home will be available while supplies last.
