Green industry

Green industry in Portland and Oregon

NOTE This overview touches on utility-scale alternative power in Oregon and Portland, solar and wind energy providers, and green building leadership in Portland, but many of the smaller firms have not (yet) been listed here.

Introduction

Oregon and Portland is becoming a green energy hub, with utility scale energy generation using Wind, Solar and Wave, investments in electric car charging infrastructure, batteries and inverter technology, and a green building hub providing leadership nationwide.

Sustainable Utility Power in Oregon

Oregon's legislature passed a law in 2007 that requires utilities to get at least 25 percent of Oregon's power from renewable sources by 2025. The U.S. is on a trajectory to generate 20% of the nation’s electricity from wind energy by 2030. Wind and solar can be cheaper than hydro, nukes or coal, but renewables have more variables. Grid parity has been reached in Hawaii with most of the US expected to reach grid parity by 2015, says Wikipedia.The Dalles Dam, constructed by the federal government in 1957, today produces close to 1,800 megawatts of power — enough to fuel three-quarters of the state of California.

Wind Farms in Oregon

PGE, the state's largest utility, hopes to shut down the state's only coal-fired power plant 20 years earlier than planned. PGE has natural gas and coal-fired power plants in Boardman and has proposed one or two additional natural gas plants there, if it closes its Boardman coal plant to meet haze-reduction rules or avoid carbon taxes. The 585-megawatt coal fired plant provides enough electricity to serve about 250,000 residential customers.

About 4 percent of PGE's energy comes from wind farms — mostly the Biglow Canyon Wind Farm, plus power PGE purchases on contract from the Klondike II and Vansycle Ridge wind farms. The Stateline Wind Farm runs along the Columbia River.

• Portland General Electric’s Biglow Canyon Wind Farm is the second-largest wind energy facility in the state; its 141 turbines produce 275 megawatts of power. The farm is situated in Wasco County, an area prospected for further wind development, despite growing community concern about noise and environmental impacts. The $1 billion project was completed in September, 2010. Vestas, the largest wind turbine manufacturer as of 2009. It has its North American headquarters in Portland. Here's a video tour of a Vestas tower at Biglow.

• Shepherds Flat Wind Farm is a planned wind farm near Arlington, Oregon. Installation of the wind turbines is scheduled to begin in 2010 and is expected to be fully built in 2012. Planned to be built by Caithness Energy, it would supply electricity to Southern California Edison. The wind farm is projected to be the largest land-based wind farm in the world when it is completed. The V90-3.0 MW turbines would be manufactured by Vestas.

• Eastern Oregon wind farms, especially the Summit Ridge wind farm in Wasco County, have now been thrown into doubt. In September, 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended that the Oregon Department of Energy allow wind turbines no closer than 6 miles to a golden eagle nest. That has also prompted Portland General Electric to back off its push to buy development rights for a massive new wind farm near Arlington in Gilliam County.

Iberdrola Renewables, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, is the second largest provider of wind in the country has 41 wind farms in the United States with an installed capacity of 3,877 megwatts, enough to power close to 1 million average U.S. households. Klondike Wind Power, a subsidiary of Iberdrola Renewables, sells power to the Bonneville Power Administration. Vestas, the largest wind turbine manufacturer as of 2009, has its North American headquarters in Portland. Here's a video tour of a Vestas tower at Biglow.

Solar Power in Oregon

Crystalline silicon panels, like those made by industry leader SolarWorld in Hillsboro, Oregon, dominate 90% of the industry today, but CIGS thin films and Cadmium telluride thin films may provide competition.

PGE’s “Oregon Solar Highway” is a 100kW system that contains about 8,000 square feet of solar panels extending about the length of two football fields. It incorporates SolarWorld silicon PV array and the Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems (SEGIS), a DOE program to develop photovoltaic (PV) systems that seamlessly integrate into the distribution and transmission grid.

Cadmium telluride panel manufacturers, like Solexant, in Greham, Oregon, claim they can manufacture solar panels for less than $1 per watt. That represents a huge shift in energy economics. At $1 per watt, the over all cost of a system will be $2 per watt comparable to a coal plant which has a cost of $2.10 per watt.

Solexant's facility in Oregon, producing 100-megawatts of thin film CdTe) solar panels annually, will be the largest nanotechnology manufacturing facility in the world. Long-term, the company hopes to expand the facility to 1000MW annually, reports Oregon Live.

• SANYO Solar, which claims to manufacturer the world’s most efficient solar panels, has opened a monocrystalline growing facility in Salem, Ore. The plant, spanning 130,000-square-feet at the Salem Renewable Energy and Technology Center and employing 200 highly skilled workers, represents an investment by SANYO of more than $84 million. Sanyo Solar grows crystals in Salem and slices them into wafers, which Japanese workers make into cells that go into panels in Japan, Hungary or Mexico.

• SolarWorld, which claims to be the largest manufacturer of solar panels in the United States, unveiled its 210,000-square-foot addition to its Hillsboro, Ore., manufacturing plant. It is now the only monocrystalline solar manufacturing plant in the United States to produce every phase of solar panel manufacturing. It has been supported partly by tax incentives from the city of Hillsboro, the state of Oregon and the US government via the Recovery Act. SolarWorld Group has its main manufacturing operations in Hillsboro and in Freiburg, Germany.

• Solexant, a developer of thin film PV, plans to build a $200 million solar manufacturing plant in Gresham. The company plans to construct a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing plant that will initially employ 100 before growing to 170 at full production. Long term, the company hopes to eventually expand the facility to manufacture panels capable of generating 1,000 megawatts. Such a facility could employ as many as 1,000 workers.

• Grape Solar doesn't grow silicon crystals or make solar cells at its Eugene headquarters. Essentially, it just imports low-cost solar panels from China and re-sells them here.

Solar is cheaper than nuclear energy, according to Duke University. iSuppli predicts that around 13.6 GW of PV will be installed this year.

Wave Power

The nation's first commercial wave-energy farm, designed by Ocean Power Technologies, is now underway off the Oregon coast. Once fully deployed, the $60 million system is expected to have a capacity of 1.5 megawatts — about half that of a single giant wind turbine - though waves should produce power around the clock.

Ocean Power Technologies is close to getting a license to build a wave energy plant off the coast of Oregon. The New Jersey-based company has signed a settlement agreement that includes over 11 government agencies, and several private companies, to develop a 150 kW wave energy station. When completed the plant will consist of 10 PowerBuoys that could generate enough electricity to power 1,000 homes annually, according to Ocean Power. A 10-Megawatt OPT power station would occupy approximately 30 acres (0.125 square kilometers) of ocean space.

The first buoy will measure 150 feet tall by 40 feet wide, weigh 200 tons and cost $4 million. Nine more buoys are planned to deploy near Reedsport, Ore., by 2012, at a total cost of $60 million. Ocean Power Technologies has contracted with Oregon Iron Works to build the buoys. Clusters of buoys would cover a five-mile stretch, north to south, less than three miles from shore.

The trick is to tap the benefits of a new industry without spoiling ocean habitats, economic livelihoods and recreational playgrounds. A wave-power device from another company, Finavera, sank off the Oregon coast two years ago.

Electric Cars

Electric vehicles might substitute for utility scale grid energy storage while reducing fossil fuel consumption.

A 20 minute quick charger might utilize a 45-kilowatt photovoltaic carport. PGE installed the first publicly available fast charger in the United States this summer in its parking garage in downtown Portland. NEC's Takasago Rapid Charging Station complies with the CHAdeMO EV charging standard, and comes in 50kW and 20kW capacities for 15-30 minute charging.

The Nissan Leaf is being tested in Portland in 2010. It costs $33,000, and has been described as a $16,500 subcompact car that costs double that thanks to a battery estimated to cost $16,500. The Navistar eSta, an electric truck, will sell for $150,000 because it will tote a battery that costs at least $75,000. Both the Leaf and the eStar will be limited to 100 miles of driving on their Lithium Ion batteries.

ReVolt, with headquarters in Portland, is developing Zinc-Air batteries.

Lithium-air is said to be the dream battery. Only hydrogen carries more energy for its weight. Instead of going 40 miles between charges, you might go 200 or 400 miles.

Inverters and Electronics

Founded in 2003, PV Powered, based in Bend, designs and manufactures inverters, devices which convert the direct current produced by solar panels into the alternating current supplied by electric utilities. Proponents of micro-inverters believe the technology makes the system more reliable, smarter, and efficient by increasing energy harvesting through optimal MPPT at the module level.

Alternative Energy Financing

SolarCity's financing options let homeowners and businesses in Beaverton switch to solar power with little or no up-front investment; power is sold directly to the utility.

The power system requires that generation of electricity perfectly matches the amount consumed at all times but wind farms can create excess power, causing waste or environmental impact. Portland General Electric in the next two years plans to install batteries from Ener1 to supply enough juice to power 400 homes in Salem for about an hour. The Electric Storage Association has more on energy storage technologies.

A new report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) examines feed-in tariffs (FITs). The policy is known for spurring dramatic growth of renewable energy in Europe during the past decade.

Beaverton's 1000 watt array illustrates how to figure your typical power generation, then compare it with your power bill and total solar installation costs. Grape Solar’s kits retail for 25-30K and provide all the power for an average middle-class home. They're out of Eugene. Without subsidies, which can amount to 75% of the cost, solar has a ways to go to reach parity in the home.

Terry Gross explains Cap and Trade.

Coal Fired Power

The Boardman coat plant accounts for 15 percent of the power provided by PGE, Oregon's largest electric utility, but Pacific Power share of coal is 40%, according to Washington State's online reports (pdf).

Facebook’s data center in Prineville, Oregon is receiving a “green” backlash since its electric utility, Pacific Power, will likely be getting most of its power from a coal-powered generator in Boardman, Oregon. The company avoided tiered energy rates, due to a formula used by the Bonneville Power Administration, the federal agency that operates dams on the Columbia River and sells the power at cost to utilities. Pacific Power will get most of its electricity from the nearby Boardman coal-fired plant.

Green Buildings

The City of Portland adopted a green building policy and funded a Green Building Initiative, which is designed to expand market demand and provide technical services and resources for the building industry. The Portland Office of Planning and Sustainability promotes sustainability principles and practices.

Green building represents a nearly $50 billion industry in the United States and is project to grow significantly. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, was started in 2000 and initially was used in the construction of office buildings. But the LEED for Homes program is tailored to the needs of single-family construction. Cascadia Green Building Council lists Some LEED buildings. around the Portland region.

Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine maker, will convert the former Myer and Frank warehouse in Portland, into its new North American headquarters. It will be designed by Gerding Edlen and is shooting for LEED Platinum.The Oregon Sustainability Center is aiming for triple net-zero performance in energy, water and carbon emissions. The Port of Portland headquarters is Gold certified.

More Information

Energy Trust of Oregon provides cash incentives for customers of PGE, Pacific Power, NW Natural and Cascade Natural Gas. The Oregon Department of Energy has more information on sustainable energy programs.

External Links

• 85+ Wind and Solar Energy Companies now in Greater Portland, Ore.
• Columbia Gorge Energy Tour (Flickr)