Hood River County is receiving a nearly 70-thousand dollar grant from Pacific Power’s Blue Sky energy program to outfit the County’s Health Department building with a roof-mounted solar installation and battery back-up system.  The Health Department building currently has a diesel backup generator, to ensure that the County’s supply of vaccines stay refrigerated during power outages.  The addition of solar batteries to the system will provide a demonstration project showing how batteries can become the building’s primary backup power source, minimizing the use of diesel, and greatly extending the amount of time the combined backup system can provide power in an emergency situation.  The location is well-suited for solar, with a mostly-unshaded, south-facing roof.   The grant of $69,672 will help get the project producing power by June.