Thanks to the cooperation of REC Solar, a design-build solar firm, and Sun Edison, the nation’s largest distributed solar energy provider, the town of Gresham will soon celebrate the activation of the largest ground-mounted solar power “farm” in the Pacific Northwest.
San Luis Obispo, California-based REC Solar, with 13 locations nationwide including Portland, Oregon, was founded in 1997 by Judy Ledford and Fred Sisson. Since 2006, the company has been ranked by the California Energy Commission (CEC) as one of the top solar installation companies in the state.
REC, in spite of its national footprint, prides itself on being a local business in the communities it serves, and offers design, installation, and financing for residential and commercial installations. REC is also one of only a handful of solar companies in California whose engineers are certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners – a certification that represents the regional gold standard for quality and reliability.
Sun Edison, which has built its solar reputation on being the first to implement the innovative Solar Power Purchase Agreement model, became an MEMC company on Nov. 23, 2009, though Sun Edison will continue to operate under its own name. The acquisition put MEMC (and Sun Edison) at the top of the list of North American solar energy services providers.
The array, with a nameplate rating of 419 kilowatts, will deliver an estimated 460,000 kilowatts of clean, “green” solar energy during its first year. That is enough to power 40 to 46 average American homes for a year, and will prevent 330 metric tons from being generated by regional utility Portland General Electric, or PGE. This is the equivalent of removing about 63 cars from Gresham-area roads, or planting 8,471 deciduous trees and allowing them to mature for a decade.
PGE, whose generation mix is 24 percent coal and 26 percent natural gas, owns and operates the infamous Boardman Power Plant, a 585-megawatt coal-fired generation plant that provides at least 15 percent of PGE’s delivery mix. Boardman, which will not be required to install pollution controls until 2011 at the earliest, is the unregenerate producer of much of the mercury in Oregon’s rivers, which travels from fish to people as a potent neurotoxin and cancer-causing agent.
The Gresham array is located at the city’s wastewater treatment plant, located at 20015 NE Sandy Blvd., and the dedication and opening ceremony is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 10:00 a.m.
Financing was arranged via incentives provided by the Energy Trust of Oregon, an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to helping Oregon residents and businesses participate in renewable energy resources. The city or Gresham paid nothing for the solar project, and will buy the energy produced under a long-term contract, presumably at or less than rates offered per kilowatt hour by PGE, a participant in the Energy Trust program. In addition, REC Solar will maintain the system.