Under the Solarize program, Portlands Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and Energy Trust of Oregon, a nonprofit promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy, support groups of residents as they join together to secure volume pricing for buying and installing solar power systems.
Two installation partners Mr. Sun Solar for the Solarize resident group in Southwest Portland and Imagine Energy for Southeast Portland each expect to install more than 400 kilowatts of high-quality SolarWorld Sunmodules on homes. In a separate Solarize program orchestrated by the Eastern Oregon city of Pendleton, Livelight Energy expects to install more than 175 kilowatts of Sunmodules. In all, SolarWorlds monocrystalline photovoltaic product will provide power to about 425 homes.
In Hillsboro, located west of Portland, Solarworld operates the largest solar technology factory in the Americas. There, the company is culminating an expansion to reach annual production capacity of 500 MW and 1,000 employees by years end.
Solarize Portland reflects the best spirit of Portlands DIY, grassroots commitment to sustainability, said Mayor Sam Adams. That this program would be able to count Solarworld a big part of the Portland region's burgeoning solar technology industry as a participant and supplier only strengthens Portland's, and my, commitment to fusing environmental sustainability with economic prosperity.
Kevin Kilkelly, Solarworlds president of U.S. sales, said the companys top-rated performance and domestic production maximize the sustainable impact of the grass-roots program. The spread of high-performance, domestically manufactured solar into the very U.S. neighborhoods where residents will use the power fulfills the highest promise of power from the sun, he commented.
