State to provide technical assistance for Port of Moses Lake project

MOSES LAKE — The Port of Moses Lake will receive assistance from the Washington Department of Commerce to evaluate options for providing additional electrical generation, or sharing existing power, for industries on East Wheeler Road. 

Port Director Dan Roach said the project must be completed by June 2027. It will build on work already done by port officials and consultants to determine how “industrial symbiosis” can help alleviate challenges for manufacturers, processors and other businesses in Moses Lake. 

“Ten months from now, we should have a much more polished product where we’re ready to go get real funds to start building things,” Roach said.  

The port’s project is one of seven statewide to receive DOC assistance. Port officials announced in December 2025 that they are exploring construction of their own electrical generating capacity. They’re also looking at ways to take advantage of energy that’s already being generated and put it to more efficient use.  

Shannon Souza of Sol Coast Consulting said the work done so far has identified some options that fit within the framework.  

“They're all symbiotic relationships, and what this technical assistance is designed to do is to take that preliminary list of those six opportunities and help us refine that down to the one that's most ready to fund,” Souza said. “It doesn't mean that the others drop off the list. It really is to help us better vet that entire list. Maybe one of them will drop off the list through this evaluation, but the real prioritization is to say, ‘Oh, here's the one that will make the biggest difference,’ and to come out of this effort by the end of next June with one project that is really ready to go into permitting, environmental feasibility, and to start seeking funding to actually develop it.”  

The options include using agricultural waste to generate energy or businesses and farmers sharing the use of ag lands. Power sharing between businesses is another possibility. Businesses also could evaluate their existing power systems and make them more efficient. Reuse of the heat or other byproducts of production is another option. The last is evaluating heating and cooling systems to see if it’s possible to share them.  

The WDOC will help the port find expertise to evaluate the options, she said. 

“There are no funds that are being delivered to the port. It’s purely technical assistance from a team that has been selected based on their expertise around these technologies, all these solutions that we’ve identified,” Souza said. “We get access to people that are the most knowledgeable about this, and they’re coming from Denmark and the Pacific Northwest.” 

There’s a benefit to having assistance that’s not tied to the project, she said. 

“It's really helpful for our communities and these projects to have these industry experts that don't have a vested interest in the outcome, vetting and qualifying ready-to-build projects," Souza said. "It helps to build confidence from those who will fund it, whether it's public or private or a mix of funding." 

Some of the businesses along Wheeler Road have indicated they would be interested in working on these ideas, she said. 

“It’s this beautiful circular economy that we would really like to support and unlock in that corridor," Souza said. "That would have tremendous economic impact."