Sun Shines on Portland Solar Expansion

The Department of Energy Solar America Cities program provides selected cities with financial and technical assistance to promote solar energy.

"Having Portland recognized as a leader in solar adoption is significant," Mayor Adams said in a statement. "For years we fought the misperception that solar is impossible in this part of the country. We know that to be false, as we demonstrate through collaboration between public and private enterprises, that we can be leaders in the manufacturing and adoption of solar energy."

Portland was one of 25 cities to have earned the Solar City award in 2007-2008. This designation included a matching grant of $200,000 to be used for consumer education about the feasibility of solar energy in the cloudy Northwest, and to work with companies that produce and sell solar panels.

Solar panels are applied to the roof of the Portland Habilitation Center. (Photo courtesy NECA/IBEW Local 48)

Though the 2009 designation does not guarantee another Energy Department grant, city officials are hopeful that a similar amount will be made available after the federal agency's budget is finalized in the next few months.

The city is developing co-marketing opportunities with contractors, roofing companies and building inspectors to communicate to consumers that installing a new roof "is an ideal time for installing solar." The city also will include marketing materials about solar power to consumers in communications from the city-operated water and sewer utilities.

Despite its reputation for rainy weather, Portland receives an average amount of sunlight annually. Clear days throughout the summer and early fall make up for the long winters with overcast skies. Portland officials hope to persuade residents that despite the weather, installing solar power is a viable option.

The City of Portland is collaborating with Solar Oregon, the Oregon Department of Energy and the Energy Trust of Oregon with to offer a one-stop resource for homeowners and businesses called Solar Now!

Mayor Adams, who took office in January, set a goal for the city of expanding the installed solar generating capacity in the city from the current two megawatts to five megawatts by 2012, and hopes that the actual number will approach 10 megawatts.

Adams said that after factoring in federal and state incentives in Oregon, solar is "getting dangerously to being at a commensurate price for grid power."

The mayor said the U.S. lack of a national energy policy for energy independence "is an embarrassment," and said he would lobby congress to establish one. Regardless of any national change in policy for energy or capping carbon emissions, Adams said Portland will meet its goals. The long term goal "is to wean Portland entirely off" coal power plants, the mayor said.

Since receiving the first Energy Department grant, Portland has streamlined the solar permitting process so that applications can be approved in a single day, and the fee for residential solar was reduced to $100, according to Portland's Solar Program Coordinator Lee Rahr.

For commercial solar installations, the cost of the inverters and solar panels has been removed from the cost of equipment which is used to calculate the permitting fee, which can lower business fees by up to 80 percent. Rahr said Portland has recently issued a 1.5 megawatt request for proposal to add solar to eight public facilities.

Portland residents will soon be able to see who in their neighborhood has installed solar power. Partly funded by the Energy Department grant, the city has hired consultants C2HM Hill to develop a solar map that shows every commercial and residential solar installation in the city.

Program manager for the solar map Steph Stoppenhagen said it will be modeled on the map that was created for San Francisco and will be available on June 9. The interactive map will provide residents with their estimated cost savings from installing solar power using data that includes their roof size and annual projected sunlight.

Hannah Muller of the Energy Department's Solar Energy Technologies program says the Solar America Cities program is a change in approach for her agency because it focuses on market transformation, not just research and development. As part of the award, city officials get access to DOE engineers to help troubleshoot problems on solar projects.

The Solar America Cities grants, which must be matched by local government funds, are used to involve universities, utilities and city planners in the expansion of solar energy. Muller says the success of the program has prompted other groups within the Energy Department to ask for expansion of their programs to include market transformation.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2009. All rights reserved.