Oregon Department of Transportation
An aerial view of Oregon Department of Transportation's solar highway demonstration project at the I-5, I-205 interchange. The agency teamed up with Portland General Electric to build a much bigger solar project along I-5 near Wilsonville.
Oregon will soon be home to the largest solar highway in the nation. A groundbreaking in Portland yesterday launched a $10 million solar project at Baldock Safety Rest Area on Interstate 5 near Wilsonville. By next year, a grassy meadow owned by the Oregon Department of Transportation will be filled with nearly 7,000 solar panels – enough to power about 165 homes a year.
Many players and renewable energy incentives came together to make this happen:
- The Bank of America is financing the project with $1.75 million of help from the Energy Trust of Oregon and $250,000 from Portland General Electric’s Clean Wind program. The bank will also receive federal and state renewable energy tax credits (together worth around 80 percent of the project, The Oregonian reports)
- Potland General Electric is building and operating the project and will have the option to buy it in six years.
- Oregon Department of Transportation, the Energy Trust of Oregon and PGE will gain renewable energy credits for the project that will help them reach their state-mandated clean energy goals.
But Allison Hamilton, manager of ODOT’s Solar Highway Program, started it all. And she said this project not only shrinks the carbon footprint of her agency, but it also holds promise as a potential revenue source for ODOT in the future. ODOT charged a minimal license fee for the use of public land in this case because, she said, if the fee were any higher the financing wouldn’t have penciled out. But in the future, the agency will be looking to tap its highway lands for solar projects that will actually pay some bills: Continue reading