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September 2013
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| THIS NEWSLETTER IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY OUR GENEROUS SPONSOR: |
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Thanks to our new and renewing Professional Members and Solar Supporters!
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Solar Ambassadors
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Willow Springs Guest Ranch
 Lakeview
Keith Barnhart and his family live off grid at the Willow Springs Guest Ranch, powered by solar and wind energy. Keith installed the PV system himself which includes 6 pole mounted 180W modules and tracking.
>>Click here to read more about this home
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| Volunteer for Solar Oregon! |
 Interested in volunteering for our in-school energy education program? Contact Emily Krafft at emily@solaroregon.org.
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Stay up to date on solar news and events by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn!
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2013 Oregon Green and Solar Tours
Each year across the country thousands of people open their homes and offices to show their neighbors what distributed power and efficient design can do to reduce utility bills and clean up the Earth's atmosphere. This year tours are being offered in seven Oregon communities in late September and early October, most of them coinciding with the National Solar Tour. Each tour reflects the unique interests of the community, yet all share a common goal: to educate the public about green and solar strategies.
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Solar Now! University and the South Coast Solar Tour coming to Coos Bay
Solar energy experts, community leaders and renewable energy advocates are about to converge in the community of Coos Bay for the 4th Annual Solar Now! University Conference. In addition to sessions on solar technology, policy, financing models, planning and more, this year's conference will feature local solar developments in and around Coos Bay. We will hear from two Coos County nonprofits about their solar projects on low income residences. Saturday's program includes a tour of the Coos Bay Fire Station's solar water heating and solar electric systems.
If you are still hungry for more solar after the conference hop on the shuttle for the South Coast Solar Tour! Organized by Solar Oregon member Sol Coast, the tour will visit three sites showcasing solar water heating and solar electric technologies and passive solar design.
>>Click here for more information on the South Coast Solar Tour
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What is a Smart Inverter Anyway?
Ever since the 1920's, when isolated utility companies started joining their separate, islanded systems together, the utility grid has looked and worked pretty much the same - big, central, generating plants connected to all consumers through an interconnected grid of transmission and distribution lines. Sure, computers came along and modernized grid control, advances in some technologies made changes in the equipment used, but the fundamental concepts of big, central plants feeding all the electrical users through a grid stayed pretty much the same.
Fast forward to today's grid: the utility grid will probably see more changes in how it works in the next 10 or 15 years than in the last 100! The main driver for this huge shift in how the grid works will undoubtedly be the growing number of electrical consumers who also become electrical generators. From a residential solar system to a municipal biogas plant to a cogeneration unit in a manufacturing plant, more and more distributed generation will be on the grid.
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By David J. Petersen, Solar Oregon Board Member
This spring Governor Kitzhaber signed House Bill 2893 related to solar energy. The law extends Oregon's solar volumetric incentive rate (VIR) program (commonly if erroneously called the "feed in tariff") for one year, to March 31, 2016. The law also increased the capacity of the program from 25 MW to 27.5 MW, and directed the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to adopt rules to facilitate the development of the extra 2.5 MW with primarily "medium size" systems. This means systems between 5 and 100 kW nameplate capacity and is commonly called the "small commercial" segment of the solar PV market.
The law also directs the PUC to complete a study by July 1, 2014 of the "effectiveness of programs that provide incentives for the use of solar photovoltaic energy systems." This is the first step on the road to a replacement for the VIR program. With the success of the VIR program, the rapidly falling cost of installed solar, and the growing acceptance and enthusiasm for solar energy, we will hopefully see an even more ambitious solar incentive program from the Legislature in the next biennium.
The next VIR enrollment period begins Oct 1. Click here for more infomation.
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MEET THE TEAM
DOUG BOLEYN - Solar Oregon Board's President-Elect
Doug Boleyn has been involved in solar energy since building his first residence with a solar heating system back in 1974. His experience with renewables is long and vast. For 22 years he was employed at PGE as solar/renewable energy consultant and developed conservation marketing programs. He was employed by the Energy Trust of Oregon as its Commercial Solar Program Manager for several years. Today, as owner and principal of Cascade Solar Consulting, LLC, he performs a range of renewable energy consulting, engineering, design, and project management focused on grid-tie photovoltaic and solar thermal (solar space and water heating) systems.
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Solar Oregon members Beth and Richard Clucas at their neighborhood community center.
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A Solar Forward Story
When the neighborhood Solarize campaign came to southwest Portland in 2010, long-time Hayhurst neighborhood residents Beth and Richard Clucas were one of the first families to sign up. They support renewable energy and wanted to see if they could install solar on their residence alongside neighbors who were doing the same. They did some research, attended a Solar Oregon workshop, and then signed up to have the solar contractor do an assessment on their roof. John Patterson, Mr. Sun Solar, arrived at the Clucas' residence and conducted the solar resource assessment, but in the end he had bad news. Their house wouldn't be one of the 168 homes that saw solar installed during this campaign - just too much shade on their roof.
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Upcoming Events
Email us to let us know where you would like more solar energy education in Oregon
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