Portland General Electric : PGE customers can purchase output from new Oregon solar project

Oct. 1, 2015

PGE customers can purchase output from new Oregon solar project
PGE introduces new renewable power option for just $5 a month

Portland, Ore. - Portland General Electric customers can now purchase output from a new, large-scale solar installation in Oregon under a renewable power option PGE announced today.

For just $5 a month, customers can purchase a 1 kilowatt block of Green FutureSM Solar from energy produced by a 2,935 kW solar installation just completed in Willamina, Ore. Blocks will be available until the capacity sells out.

'This renewable power option is the newest way PGE is helping our customers who want to support solar power,' said Carol Dillin, PGE Vice President of Customer Strategies and Business Development. 'Green Future Solar helps customers who've wanted to go solar, but couldn't because they rent their homes, installation costs are too high, or they just don't have a good spot available to install solar panels.'

The new solar project is the largest solar facility in the PGE service area, one of the five largest solar installations in Oregon, and the first utility-scale solar project in Polk County. It contains 9,468 solar panels and covers approximately 10 acres. Revenue from the program will support the development of new renewable energy facilities in Oregon.

Each block of Green Future Solar equals 1 kW of solar power, about the same as 4 typical panels on an Oregon-based array, or about 14 percent of the average residential renewable energy customer's monthly energy use. At the end of the year, each customer enrolled in Green Future Solar will receive a report showing how much solar-generated electricity they contributed to the regional grid and the environmental benefits resulting from their participation. Starting in December, they'll also be able to track the project's solar output on a monthly basis.

PGE is ranked the top renewable program in the nation for number of customers enrolled and renewable energy sold by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. More than 120,000 PGE customers are enrolled in one or more renewable power options, and PGE supplies them with over 1 million megawatt-hours of electricity per year. Green Future Solar joins the variety of renewable power choices available to PGE customers, including Clean Wind^SM and Green Source^SM.

To enroll or learn more about Green Future Solar and other PGE renewable energy options, customers can visit PortlandGeneral.com/Renewable or call PGE customer service at 1-800-542-8818.

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Photos and B-roll of the Green Future Solar installation are available to the media:

Suggested photo caption:
Now anyone can go solar- 1 kW blocks of solar power from this large installation in Willamina, Ore. are now available to individual PGE customers for just $5 per month through the new Green Future Solar power option. The recently completed array in Polk County contains 9,468 solar panels and covers approximately 10 acres. Find PGE on Facebook at Facebook.com/PortlandGeneralElectric or on Twitter and Instagram at @PortlandGeneral.

For more information, contact:
Stan Sittser, PGE, 503-464-8271
Stan.Sittser@pgn.com