PGE is helping to grow solar energy in Oregon in a variety of ways, including recruiting solar manufacturers here and creating partnerships to implement solar electric installations. In 2009 PGE was ranked as one of the nation’s
top 10 utilities for solar integration. Learn about two pioneering solar projects:
Nation’s first solar highway
PGE helped develop the nation’s first solar highway — the Oregon Solar Highway Demonstration Project — at the Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 interchange in Tualatin.
The electricity generated is operating highway lights reducing the state’s reliance on fossil fuels.
The 104-kilowatt solar photovoltaic demonstration project, which covers about 8,000 square feet — roughly the length of two football fields — is a collaboration with the Oregon Department of Transportation. The project began supplying renewable power in December 2008 to help light the way for drivers at the interchange.
The solar panels produce electricity during the day, supplying power onto the PGE grid, and PGE returns an equivalent amount of power at night to light the interchange, through a net metering arrangement with the state.
The solar highway is expected to produce about 112,000 kilowatt hours a year, or 28 percent of the 400,000 kilowatt hours used to light the interchange, and actual performance is better than predicted.
The $1.3 million project is an “all-Oregon” effort — Oregon companies supplied the materials, design and installation of this collaborative project, which means a boost for the Oregon economy.
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Northwest’s largest rooftop installation
PGE and its partners rolled out the largest solar project in the Pacific Northwest in the fall of 2008. The project, using “thin-film” solar panels installed on the rooftops of three ProLogis distribution warehouses in northeast Portland, is now producing up to 1.1 megawatts of electricity for PGE customers. The project was also funded in part by PGE Clean Wind renewable power customers.
The solar panels cover 328,000 square feet, and put solar power directly onto the grid, adding to the renewable energy PGE already delivers to our customers. This project illustrates a business model that makes large-scale solar projects feasible. With the passage of the 2008 Energy Improvement and Extension Act, PGE expects to leverage federal energy tax credits to develop more renewable projects.
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