Columbia REA- Our Solar Sites

If you need to apply for approval on your own Solar system and Net-Meter on our system, please click HERE.

Columbia REA has installed two PV solar sites at its Walla Walla Service Center location. Our intent it to produce electricity for our members to use, but also have the ability to show the systems and data to our members, so that those who may be interested can gain more knowledge before they invest in their own systems. Additionally, having designed and constructed these sites have given us the insight that you only can get by actually completing and operating such a project.

We hope you enjoy this page and the information provided. If you have a question or comment, please feel free to reach out to solar@columbiarea.coop or feel free to call 509-526-4041. If you have started a solar project, new installation applications are HERE.

Facts about our solar sites:

• Both sites are located at our Walla Walla Office at 2929 Melrose street.
• Our PV (photo voltaic) solar panels are 400W Heliene Bifacial modules and are built in North America.
• The Fronius inverters convert the DC to 3 phase AC with a high efficiency factor.

North system in the north employee parking

• This solar system has 52 panels with a surface area of 84’ by 13’, the total square footage is a little larger than 1,100 square feet.
• Each panel is rated at 400 Watts, all 52 panels create a system capacity of 20.8 KW of DC power.

Solar EV charging carport in the south customer parking area

• This solar system has 40 panels with a surface area of 53’ by 17’, the total square footage is a about 900 square feet.
• Each panel is rated at 400 Watts, all 40 panels create a system capacity of 16 KW of DC power.
• This carport has a 100 KW DC Electric Car fast charger that connects with a CHAdeMO, or CCS/SAE connection, and also has two additional J-1772 – 7.2 KW Level 2 chargers, located in the south customer parking lot.
• The DC fast charge equipment can charge an electric vehicle to 80 percent in just 20 minutes to 1 hour. This EV charging station is a point of sale, retail car charger for the public; it is a pay for use system and is operated by EVITA / Energy Northwest.

The total system rating of both solar PV systems is 36.8 KW DC.

This system can produce enough wattage to completely power 3 average homes in Walla Walla.

Live data from both sites is below.

Note: This data is not for a finite analysis but to show the daily potential of these systems. A true and accurate solar system analysis comparing system savings as compared to utility billing should be done on the AC power system, not the DC system from the inverter as shown here, and with a utility grade production meter or test instruments.