May/June 2007

RENEWABLE ENERGY—SOLAR ELECTRIC AND SOLAR WATER HEATING

Bill Brooks’ PV inspector training in June
Registration is now open for Bill Brooks’ workshop on permitting and inspecting PV systems according to the National Electric Code. This full-day training is targeted at building officials and will be offered twice: June 13 in Portland and June 14 in Tangent. Please mention this training opportunity to all electrical and building inspectors that you encounter between now and then. Visit the Energy Trust website to register online.

Solar professionals may register for the June 14 session. This training is being offered with support from the Interstate Renewable Energy Council and a federal Department of Energy grant. Professional CEUs are available for the training.

Installing solar on ENERGY STAR^® new homes
To encourage the adoption of solar in new homes, Energy Trust’s ENERGY STAR New Homes and Solar programs are collaborating to promote solar add-on incentives to homebuilders who go the extra mile.

Builders may receive a flat $750 incentive for solar water heaters and our standard residential incentive for solar electric systems up to $10,000. These incentives are being offered as upgrades to the current ENERGY STAR New Homes packages and will be paid directly to the builder. In addition, builders who install solar on a model home will be eligible for an extra $500 on top of the ENERGY STAR model home incentives.

Solar marketing campaign on OPB radio
As part of Energy Trust’s sponsorship on OPB radio, a solar spot is scheduled to run in May and June a total of 38 times during Morning Edition. It will also go into the Car Talk rotation through October for a total of 36 times. Listen for this text during those shows:
“Our listeners support OPB and so does…Energy Trust of Oregon, helping Oregonians plug into clean energy from the sun, with cash incentives to go solar at home and at work. Online at Energy Trust dot org.”
We know that these radio spots drive customers to our website. Solar trade allies should verify that your company information is listed correctly on our website. You may also consider doing some of your own advertising to coincide with this promotion, using Energy Trust’s cooperative advertising incentives to help you.

Energy Trust approves funding for 3rd party-owned PV system
An 870 kW photovoltaic array is planned for nonprofit Portland Habilitation Center’s new 110,000 square foot manufacturing facility in northeast Portland. Scheduled for completion in November 2007, this project was approved for an incentive through Energy Trust’s Open Solicitation program. For details, read the board resolution on PHC.

The system will be net metered in PGE territory, and will use a 3rd party ownership model. A major investor will use the project’s tax benefits in the early years, after which majority ownership will “flip” to the nonprofit. Several investors are exploring this ownership model. If you have a nonprofit or municipal customer interested in this model, please contact .

Green tag policy revised
Energy Trust’s board approved a revised green tag policy in March. The new green tag policy does not change the current green tag ownership for solar electric projects receiving standard residential or commercial incentives. It does, however, allow the market value of green tags to be factored into the calculation of how green tags are shared between the project developer and Energy Trust, which should facilitate the completion of more biopower, wind and hydro projects. For more details, read the board resolution on green tags.

PV systems performing as expected
An evaluation of the impact of Energy Trust’s solar electric program was just completed. The study shows that on average, residential PV systems installed since 2003 have generated 99 percent of the energy that was predicted. But it also revealed that energy usage in the homes increased an average of 35 percent after the PV systems were installed.

Energy Trust is surveying homeowners to find out if other factors, such as home additions or new appliances, affected their energy usage. And we continue to collect PV system meter readings from participants annually to track system performance. For more information about system performance, contact Read the PV impact evaluation report for more details.

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