By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – The Port of Port Angeles has just become one of only a few ports in Washington state to be awarded a grant to help electrify its operations as part of Washington’s Climate Commitment Act. This year’s awards are a first, with the Port Electrification Grant Program created by the state Legislature in 2023.
The Port received a little over $525,000 out of a total of $26.5 million recently awarded to 11 Washington ports to help electrify their operations and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
How? Grants and Contracts Manager Katherine Frazier says one way is by replacing old diesel equipment with new EV versions for moving cargo around the docks.
“So, we’ve got some old forklifts, and when I say old, I mean old, like from the 1970s. So, it’s equipment that kind of needs an update anyway. So, as we look to replace this equipment, why not go electric and do the right thing for the environment? And we’re also looking at what’s called a reach stacker. And a reach stacker is kind of like a smaller version of some of the big cranes that you see at ports. So, we’re really excited about that because it’ll actually not only help us reduce emission’s, but also help us diversify the types of cargo that the Port can handle.”
The other planned electrical upgrade the Port wants to make is to its shore power. Shore power allows ships, while they’re docked at a terminal, to hook up to electric power on the shore rather than running their own engines to power their onboard ship operations.
“So, shore power is kind of a funny thing where, kind of like different phone chargers, there are a lot of different shore power cables and plugs that different ships and different ports use. And, there is a move to provide a lot of different adaptable plugs that can be used by different ships, and basically make it so that any ship that comes in can connect to power. The Port’s equipment is really, really old and we can only only accommodate one type of plug.”
The Port’s wish list is an expensive one, and while WSDOT’s $525,000 grant is nothing to sneeze at, it certainly isn’t going to come close to paying for new EV forklifts, a reach stacker, and shore power hookups. But it wasn’t meant to.
The serious money the Port is hoping to get is a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. Frazier has applied for a $10 million grant from the EPA, but to get it, they have to show that the Port can come up with a 10% match. WSDOT’s $525,000 will cover half of that, putting the match in reach for the Port.
“And I think that WSDOT was really excited about the idea that their money could stretch even further by helping to bring in the EPA funding. So, I say all of that with the caveat that we won’t know if we get the EPA funding until December this year. That is likely when we would find out. Another reason is that we got great support from our partners over at the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. They were kind enough to really support us in this project, and even passed a tribal resolution telling WSDOT, “Hey, we want this project to happen.” So, like with so many other projects, you can’t do it without partners. And we really want to thank the Tribe for that.”
Frazier promised to stay in touch and let us know in December what they hear from the EPA.