PORT ANGELES — The novelty oversized check may have been a bit too big for him to cash, but the funding it represented is nothing Josh Renshaw would shrug off.
The city of Port Angeles handed a large check to representatives from Olympic Electric on Friday at the Peninsula Plywood mill to mark the payment of a rebate that helped newly reopened facility on Marine Drive install new, energy-efficient lighting.
The rebate, worth $51,348, reduced the cost for PenPly to replace 278 incandescent lightbulbs with energy-efficient fixtures before the mill reopened March 1.
Renshaw said making the mill more efficient and cutting down energy costs is something that he is “dead serious” about, but added that he would have had to delay replacing the inefficient lighting if it hadn’t been for the city’s help.
“This is a big important part of it,” he said.
“Without [the rebate] we could not have looked at it.”
The rebate is covered by the city’s Weatherwise Service program. The program is funded by energy savings credits from the Bonneville Power Administration, Bob Kajfasz, city commercial energy analyst.
In total, replacement of the old lights cost about $73,000.
Because of the rebate, and $10,000 in additional assistance the mill received from Washington State University’s Energy Extension program, the mill paid only about $11,000, Renshaw said.
The new lighting will save the mill about $18,000 a year in electrical costs, city officials said.
Kajfasz said the city typically provides about $350,000 a year through energy rebates.
The rebate to Olympic Electric would be about the 10th largest the city has issued, he said.
Renshaw said the old lighting was too dim. The new lighting increases safety and helps ensure that defects in the plywood are caught before they are shipped, he added.
Renshaw said he has a list of other ways to lower the mill’s energy costs that he hopes to work through over the next few years.
The mill has made about 40 deliveries since it reopened, he said.
Its former owner, Klukwan Inc., closed the mill in November 2007.
For more information on the energy rebate, contact Kajfasz at 360-417-4718 or conservation@cityofpa.us.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.