Solar Highway

in action

The

Visit www.deckmonitoring.com to see up-to-date solar generation information, including current generation, kilowatt hours generated and project details.

The Oregon

Department of Transportation (ODOT) has begun placing solar panels in these right-of- way to provide renewable electricity to light the roadways. Through a public/private partnership with power utility Portland General Electric (PGE), ODOT has access to clean energy without paying additional energy costs.

Demonstration project

ODOT’s first demonstration project placed 8,000 square feet of solar panels alongside the busy I-5/I-205 interchange south of Portland. Since it began producing energy in December 2008, the 594 panels making up the Solar Highway have produced more than 141,000 kilowatt

hours of renewable electricity. Oregon’s Solar Highway is the nation’s first solar photovoltaic project in the highway right-of-way. Other systems exist, along the Autobahn in Germany, and in Switzerland, Austria and Spain. “I saw a public

broadcasting special

called Saved by the Sun

and it showed all the solar panels by the Autobahn

in Germany, and I said if they can do that over there, we can do

it over here,” said Allison Hamilton, project director for the Oregon Solar Highway Program in ODOT’s Office of Innovative Partnerships. “It seems like we’re reaching a critical mass here in terms of needing to go to renewable energy,” Hamilton said. “We have to start moving to renewable energy, to get the infrastructure in place because fossil fuels are limited.”

Right-of-way as resource

A main benefit of using the public right-of-way for solar projects is that the land is often unused. The power transmission and distribution systems are often located next to highways, making interconnection very easy. ODOT said

that placing solar panels on just 1 percent of Oregon’s right-of-way could provide all the kilowatt hours needed annually by the state’s transportation system.

Leadership and incentives

Oregon was uniquely positioned to enable ODOT to complete the project. Oregon has a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) that requires PGE to source 25 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2025. Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has directed state agencies to meet their electric needs entirely from renewable resources. Constitutional limitations, however, meant that ODOT couldn’t use state transportation funds to buy green energy to offset ODOT’s carbon footprint.

Creative funding agreements

Using the available right-of-way as a starting point, ODOT approached PGE, the main power utility in the Portland Metro area. ODOT and PGE were able to develop a unique public/private partnership, whereby PGE could take advantage of a state business energy tax credit, a federal investment tax credit and utility incentives to finance the $1.28 million project.

“Using the tax structure, you can do these projects at a limited cost to taxpayers and to rate payers,” Hamilton said.

Sharing power day and night

The Solar Highway produces

The first ODOT demonstration project involved placing 8,000 square feet of solar panels alongside a busy highway.

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