Utility to build largest solar power facility in northwest U.S.

BELLEVUE, Washington, US, May 16, 2007. A California solar company will build a US$3.7 million solar generating facility in Washington state that will be the first commercial installation to use solar panels made in that state.

Puget Sound Energy, the utility subsidiary of Puget Energy, says EI Solutions will design and construct the largest solar generating facility in the Pacific Northwest. The 500 kW facility will start construction next month near the utility’s Wild Horse windfarm in central Washington, and most of the panels will be in operation before the end of this year.

EI Solutions, based in San Rafael, topped a field of 12 finalists to build the facility for PSE. As part of the contract, Outback Power Systems of Washington will provide 10% of the panels for the Wild Horse solar project.

“We’re building a large-scale demonstration project to give our company, and our state, a better understanding of solar power’s viability here in the Northwest,” explains Stephen Reynolds of PSE. “By helping to launch a home-grown line of solar panels, this project will give Washington residents an added incentive to install their own solar-powered systems.”

The Wild Horse solar project will have 2,500 solar panels mounted in two separate locations across five acres. Most panels will be located at an old quarry site that is too high (3,800 feet) for wind turbines due to aviation requirements, but sits above local fog and clouds.

The entire Wild Horse site, 120 miles east of Seattle between Ellensburg and the Columbia River, includes 6,000 acres of PSE land and 3,000 acres of state-owned property. The amount of local solar insolation is similar to Houston, Texas.

The solar facility will serve the power needs of 300 homes and will double the entire output of solar power in Washington state. The Northwest’s current single largest solar facility, a 132 kW system in Klamath Falls, Oregon, is one-quarter of the size of PSE’s planned Wild Horse solar facility.

“It is a true pleasure for us to be working with Puget Sound Energy, a leading wind-power producer in Washington, to integrate solar power into their portfolio of clean, renewable energy resources,” says Andrew Beebe of EI Solutions. “We applaud PSE’s commitment to energy alternatives that can provide tangible environmental benefits in an economically sound manner.”

EI Solutions is completing the largest solar system at a single corporate campus, a 1.6 MW system at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California.

Under a state law implemented in 2006, Washington consumers can earn direct payments for every kWh of electricity produced from self-owned solar, wind or biomass generating systems. The incentive payments from PSE and other participating utilities are up to 54c/kWh with a $2,000 annual cap if Washington-made components are used.

Blue Oak Energy , a solar engineering firm, has been hired by PSE to review the project’s design and ensure that its equipment can withstand harsh winds of 120 mph that have been recorded at the site.

PSE completed the 127-turbine Wild Horse windfarm last December. Its Hopkins Ridge windfarm, built in 2005 near Walla Walla, has 83 turbines. Combined, the two windfarms make PSE the largest utility generator of green power in the Pacific Northwest.

PSE is Washington state’s oldest and largest utility, with a 6,000 square mile service territory and one million electric and 718,000 natural gas customers.

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