Portland General Electric Company : Nation's Largest Solar Highway Project Opens to Rest Stop Visitors
08/23/2012| 01:05pm US/Eastern
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Seven-acre Baldock Solar Station features educational displays,
sustainable garden
One year after breaking ground, the nation's largest solar highway
project -- a partnership between Portland
General Electric (NYSE:POR) and the Oregon
Department of Transportation -- is now open to visitors stopping to
take respite from their travels along Interstate 5 in Oregon.
Baldock Solar Station: The nation's largest solar highway project - a partnership between Portland General Electric and the Oregon Department of Transportation - is now open to visitors stopping to take respite from their travels along Interstate 5 in Oregon.
(Photo: Business Wire)
Growing clean, renewable energy amongst farm fields of corn and cabbage,
the Baldock
Solar Station is a 1.75-megawatt solar array boasting nearly 7,000
solar panels across seven acres of the Baldock Safety Rest Area, located
on Interstate 5 northbound near Wilsonville. Visitors to the station can
learn about solar power and Oregon's solar highway installations through
a variety of interpretive displays and walk along a sustainable
community garden bordering the site created by Oregon State University
Master Gardeners.
Built and operated by PGE on land owned by the Oregon Department of
Transportation, the $10 million solar array went online in January and
is expected to produce 1.97 million kilowatt-hours of energy each year --
equivalent to 11 percent of ODOT's need in PGE's service territory.
"This solar highway project shows how Oregon is leading the nation in
developing innovative, renewable energy sources," said Jim Piro, PGE
president and CEO. "The Baldock Solar Station not only educates
travelers about the booming solar industry in our state, but showcases
what can be accomplished through creative collaboration between public
and private partners."
"With this project -- the largest of its kind in the nation -- we're
contributing to a strong future in clean, renewable energy resources for
Oregon," said Matt Garrett, ODOT director. "It's just one example of the
kind of forward-thinking approach we can take in transportation -- one
that brings multiple benefits to Oregonians."
The Baldock Solar Station is also an all-Oregon project, featuring 6,994
panels produced by SolarWorld of Hillsboro, with inverters provided by
Advanced Energy of Bend. All consulting, construction, analysis and
other materials also were provided by Oregon companies.
The station is the second joint highway solar project between PGE and
ODOT and will help PGE meet the state's Renewable Energy Standard of
providing 25 percent of its power from renewable energy sources by 2025.
To date, PGE has a combined 37.7 megawatts of solar power online by
utility and customer resources in Oregon. Nearly 3,000 PGE customers
have solar electric systems installed on their homes and businesses.
Bank of America provided financing for the project, with additional
support provided by Energy Trust of Oregon, PGE's Clean Wind program and
the state's Business Energy Tax Credit program.
To learn more about the Baldock Solar Station and view its live solar
output, visit PortlandGeneral.com/SolarStation.
Visitors to the station can share their experience by tagging photos and
tweets with #HiPGE and #GoSolar or send tweets to @PortlandGeneral.
About Portland General Electric Company
Portland General Electric, headquartered in Portland, is a fully
integrated electric utility that serves approximately 828,000
residential, commercial and industrial customers in Oregon. Visit our
website at PortlandGeneral.com.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50384050&lang=en
ODOT
Shelley Snow, 503-881-5362
or
Portland General
Electric
Elaina Medina, 503-464-8790
Portlandgeneral.com/newsroom
© Business Wire 2012
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