Carbon Abatement: With all of these
great incentives, the City of Portland’s Office
of Sustainable Development has embraced
solar in its strategy to decrease and offset
CO2 emissions in the metropolitan area.
Portland recently was one of 13 cities to win
an initial Solar America City Award from
the U.S. Department of Energy. The city will
use the grant to facilitate the widespread
adoption of solar technologies and businesses. Specifically, “the funds will be used to
educate the public about the viability of
solar in rainy and cloudy climates, build
demand for solar technology, and increase
economic opportunity for solar manufacturers and installers.” This three-year project
aims to increase the number of solar installations by 400 percent over 2006 levels, by
the end of 2009.
Installers: The Oregon Solar Energy Industries Association ( oseia.org) has seen a dramatic increase in installers. Many of the larger
installers from the mature California markets have started to set up shop here. This
year’s Northwest Solar Expo was a big hit,
with a three-day professional expo designed
to train and certify new tradespeople,
followed by a two-day public expo connecting the public with solar businesses. Over
200 professionals turned out for the training
sessions, and 4,000 people turned out on
Northwest Solar Expo
was a big hit. 4,000
people turned out on
Earth Day for the
public expo.
Earth Day weekend to attend the public expo.
Net-Zero Tour: Solar Oregon launched its
first Goal Net-Zero Home Tour on May 3.
According to Energy Star, American homes
account for 21 percent of the nation’s energy
use. In fact, the average home releases twice
as much harmful greenhouse gas into the
atmosphere as the average vehicle. The goal of
the net-zero tour is to highlight the design elements, conservation measures and technologies that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions
to zero. The tour featured everything from
an accessory dwelling unit built for the grandparents to live near their grandkids, to a floating home on the Columbia River.
Manufacturing: Oregon has had a great
deal of success in attracting clean-tech solar
businesses. Germany-based SolarWorld,
Solaicx, Peak Sun and XsunX, all solar manufacturing plants, have moved to Portland.
Solar World acquired a factory in Hillsboro,
right in the middle of Oregon’s “Silicon Forest,” close to an Intel plant. Solar World hopes
to ship 500 megawatts of production capacity per year, creating 1,000 new jobs. That
would make this the largest solar wafer and
cell factory in the United States. Solaicx, a
California monocrystalline manufacturer,
built its plant in north Portland and has
plans for an initial run rate of 32 megawatts
per year, increasing to a full capacity of 180
megawatts and employing 180 workers. Peak
Sun, Salem-based polysilicon producer for
computer chips and solar panels, plans to
employ 50 people. That could grow to 500 by
2011 if a proposed expansion is approved.
Finally, XSunX, a California thin-film manufacturer, has settled on a site just outside of
Portland and has plans for a 100 megawatt
facility. Some locals have referred to the concentration of new factories as “Solar Forest.”
Yes, Oregon gets enough sun for solar.
Add to this a very solar-friendly culture,
great solar incentives and a booming clean-tech industry, and you may be looking at
an image change for Oregon. “Rainy Oregon” seems to have been transformed into
“Solar Oregon.” ●
Michael VanDerwater is executive director
of Solar Oregon. Contact him at michael@
solaroregon.org.
