On Feb. 17, Tanner Creek Energy, which develops commercial scale renewable energy systems, completed its installation of a 12.6-kilowatt solar system at the Northwoods Nursery, a 66-acre wholesale landscape nursery and greenhouse operation in Molalla, about 30 miles south of Portland.

It is not the first “green” initiative Northwoods Nursery/One Green World has engaged in. In addition to Salmon-Safe certification, earned by instituting a variety of sustainable agricultural practices to protect water quality and salmon habitat, the nursery also recycles extensively, produces its own compost, uses biodiesel in its equipment, and uses rainwater storage tanks and drip irrigation in its nursery portion.

The grid-tied, roof-mounted solar energy array is just one more step in this greener profile, enabling the landscape nursery to provide 10 percent of its annual electricity needs for retail sales, and shipping and receiving operations.

Producing an estimated 40 kilowatt-hours per day, or about 14,500 kilowatt-hours per year, the Northwoods solar array prevents the production of 10.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide (from fossil-fuel generation), which is the equivalent of taking two cars off the road or planting 267 trees. It is also the equivalent of the amount of energy used in a very large home during the year.

For Tanner Creek Energy, a renewable energy project development and consulting firm, the installation is yet another example of the kind of expertise and commitment the company has shown in previous installations, like the 35-kilowatt solar energy system at the Les Schwab Tire Centers headquarters in Bend, Oregon in March of last year.

Tanner, one of the fastest growing renewable energy developers in the state, helped Les Schwab adopt solar energy by designing the system that was installed on top of one of Les Schwab’s two, 120,000-square-foot office buildings.

The installation effectively made Les Schwab the first company in the 1,500 acre Juniper Ridge corporate park to install solar. Juniper Ridge, which will eventually find itself home to a university, a research and development park, and hundreds of dwellings, is the new trend in real estate development, offering live/work venues combined with recreational and open spaces.

Tanner Creek is also responsible for the 33.6-kilowatt solar photovoltaic installation at Pacific Landscape Management in Hillsboro which provides the landscape contractor’s headquarters with 95 percent of the electricity it needs to operate.