Sea Level Bakery + Coffee in Cannon Beach received a federal grant for a solar project.

CANNON BEACH — When Jason and Liz Menke reopened Sea Level Bakery + Coffee last year after a remodel, they saw solar energy in their future.

It started with a consultation with Elemental Energy, a Portland-based solar energy company that helped the Astoria Co+op complete a solar energy project a few years ago.

Elemental Energy connected the Menkes with Spark Northwest, a Seattle-based nonprofit specializing in clean energy grants.

“I think without their help, it would have been kind of daunting,” Jason Menke said. “Because it’s got a lot of layers to it, government bureaucracy and such. It was quite confusing.”

Earlier this month, the collaboration came to fruition in the form of a $37,541 grant from the Rural Energy for America Program. The program, backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, distributed over $2 million in grants to support renewable energy projects in Oregon.

The investments, announced this month by U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrats, help a range of large and small solar projects.

“Without the grant, it was really quite cost prohibitive for us to look at anything other than just solar panels,” Menke said. “And so the grant really made it more attainable … We’re quite appreciative.”

Now, the Menkes are planning to install a 10-kilowatt roof-mounted solar photovoltaic on the roof of their S. Hemlock Street business.

“Part of it is just to generate some solar energy, because we care about sustainability, and we’re also looking to come up with some ways to have backup power for resiliency,” Menke said. “Because from time to time, the power goes out at the coast. We’re looking to combine the solar with backup batteries rather than doing a gas generator kind of thing that takes up a lot of space and isn’t as renewable of a resource.”

While regular solar panels convert solar radiation into heat, photovoltaic panels can convert thermal energy into electricity, replacing much of the business’ energy use with renewable electricity.

“It seems like it’s one of those fields where everything’s changing constantly, technology wise, and with what’s available and what the best options are,” Menke said. “So some of what we had originally in our estimate from Elemental Energy, some of it has changed, so we’re just trying to finalize those last changes.

“That’s kind of the main holdup, so I think we’re hoping to have this going within the next six months.”

With south and west facing roof space and a lack of large trees or other homes in the way, the Sea Level Bakery + Coffee building is an optimal space for solar-powered energy.

“We don’t have to change anything about what we already have on-site, and don’t have to remove trees, which is great,” Menke said. “I think that’s been the main thing, that there is space available and it has good exposure for capturing sunlight.”