Sep 17, 2014 2 min read

Washington County’s Cross Creek Park has gas and oil wells that enrich the county’s treasury, but another source of energy may soon be contributing to county coffers.

Over the summer, panels were installed on the roof of a picnic shelter near Route 50, and as soon as West Penn Power can install a new transformer, the structure should be adding solar energy to the electrical power grid. The panels are “essentially the roof of the structure,” Lisa Cessna, executive director of the Washington County Planning Commission, said after Wednesday morning’s commissioner agenda meeting.

Until the conversion is made, lights in the shelter will continue to be powered by the electrical grid.

The county commissioners Wednesday approved a $3,500 addition to the county’s contract with Energy Independent Solutions of Robinson Township, Allegheny County, to construct a closet in the shelter to house the equipment for the solar panel inverter and associated wiring, bringing the total cost to $52,500. Oil and gas revenues from the park are paying for the solar project.

Energy Independent Solutions won the contract for the solar project in a second round of bidding.

“The initial bid actually was pulled due to issues with the specifications,” Cessna wrote in an email. The first round of bidding took place in December 2013 when proposals of $83,000, $96,788 and $145,350 were submitted.

EIS was the low bidder in the second round with a bid of $49,000. Two competitors offered to do the work for $102,600 and $136,900, respectively.

The website for Energy Independent Solutions notes that its governmental and nonprofit clients can expect to see a return on their investment in seven to 10 years.

It says that its solar panels are “100 percent American made.”

Over the past decade, Washington County received more than $8.8 million from royalties and leases related to gas extracted through wells at the 3,000-acre park.