MLK Community Center – Energy Resiliency Hub
Avista Utilities is partnering with the Martin Luther King Jr. Family Outreach Center and the City of Spokane to build the first neighborhood community resiliency hub in the East Central District. The project is designed to back the existing year-round mission of providing food bank services, childcare services, and support for families that strengthen community connections and the ability to endure extreme weather events.
Location
The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center & food distribution center is located at 500 S Stone in Spokane's east central neighborhood.
What's happening:
- April 2024 - Solar out for RFP
- May 2024 - Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) out for RFP
- May 2024 - Solar RFP awarded
- August 2024 - Solar construction starts
- October 2024- Estimated solar construction completion
What's next on the schedule:
- TBD - BESS construction starts
- TBD - DC fast charger construction starts
- TBD - Estimated BESS construction completion
- TBD - Estimated DC fast charger completion
Community benefits
The microgrid, solar panels and batteries will provide backup power storage for the community center during unplanned outages such as a windstorm, extreme heat event, or fire. The updates to the buildings heating ventilation and air conditioning will provide the center with a common space for heating and cooling. This building will be listed on the City of Spokane’s critical infrastructure and will provide support for customers who have medical power dependencies, as well as other vulnerable customer groups.
Project details
How does the project operate? During normal operations, the solar panels will power the community center and charge the batteries. When the solar panels are not generating, the batteries can back up the delivery of electricity from Avista's distribution grid.
How was the project funded?
Avista is committing up to $1M in funds for this project from our clean energy transformation “named communities” fund, energy efficiency department, connected communities fund, and electric vehicle charging and transportation department. An additional $1.5M of funding was secured from the Washington State Department of Commerce.
What community partners are involved with the MLK resiliency project?
The day-to-day normal operations, facilities (like the MLK Center) serve as Tier I “resource hubs” for the community; a place to receive support resources like N95 masks, bottled water, food bank services, and childcare. For weather related emergencies (extreme cold or extreme heat), the center will convert into a daytime Tier II “relief hubs”, like warming centers, cooling centers or safer air centers.
- April - Application submitted by MLK Center and Avista
- August 2023 – Department of Commerce awards $1.5M grant
- October/December 2023 – Energy Efficiency improvements to MLK Community Center
- February 2024 – Department of Commerce contract signed
- April 2024 – RFP for Solar and BESS
- June 2024 – New roof for MLK Center
- August 2024 – Solar Installation
- June 2025 – Prep for BESS
- October 2025 Installation of BESS
Contact David Schafer