Bend-based PV Powered, the largest manufacturer of solar power inverter technology in Oregon, is entertaining visitors from investment groups and trying to land at least $10 million to continue building out its commercial product line and to expand its sales efforts to Europe and beyond.
It’s a busy time for PV Powered. The six-year-old company is also part of a $1.3 million statewide solar power project where it will provide the inverter that will power street lights at the Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 interchange in Tualatin.
The project, which basically erects solar panels at a cloverleaf section of the freeway, is the result of collaborating with Portland General Electric (PGE), US Bank and the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), with materials and installation being provided by Oregon-based companies.
PV Powered’s inverter is an integral part of the solar power system. The solar panels that collect sunlight create D/C power, which has to be converted to A/C power for use; the latter current is what a house or a business runs on. PV Powered’s technology does this and connects to the power grid so that any excess power that is generated by the modules can be sold back to PGE and used by consumers and businesses, Erick Petersen, vice president of sales and marketing for PV Powered, told CBN.
“We’re excited to be working with both PGE and our friends at Solar World in Portland on projects right here at home in Oregon,” Petersen said. “Governor Kulongoski has been hugely supportive of PV Powered and solar energy in general. This being the first project of its kind in the U.S., and the fact that it’s located in Oregon, is great for us to be involved in.”
The solar-powered project is not a new technology — similar street lights have been in place in Iraq (160 units) and Afghanistan (150 units) for some time — but it is the first solar energy highway installation of its kind in the United States, and will include about 600 panels, according to a press release issued by the governor’s office.
The 104-kilowatt, solar photo-voltaic system, which covers about 8,000 square feet, or roughly the length of two football fields, will produce about 112,000 kilowatt hours per year, or 28 percent of the 400,000 kilowatt hours used to light the Tualatin interchange. The project is expected to be completed and online this December.
PV Powered is actually the largest photo voltaic solar manufacturer in Oregon, but that will change in a few months when Solar World opens up shop in Hillsboro with 150 employees and plans to ramp up to 1,500 workers.
Roger Lee, executive director of Economic Development for Central Oregon, said PV Powered has the potential to be a very large and successful manufacturer in the solar industry, which is on fire right now.
“There is no industry with more investment flowing in at this time,” Lee said. “It is great to have a company like PV Powered here in Bend to get us some critical mass and credibility within the industry to start attracting similar companies. We have been responding to leads from companies in that industry (that are interested in moving to Central Oregon), and we’ve prepared half a dozen or responses so far this year to smaller companies that produce solar panels or the crystalline that goes into solar panels.”
PV Powered has plans to work a trade show during the first four days of September in Valencia, Spain. Lee said that type of exposure will help put Oregon on the worldwide solar power map.
“We have competitive advantages that other states don’t have,” he said. “We have some income tax credit programs offered through the Department of Energy, the state’s energy trust, and a property tax structure that favors capital intensive projects. Give it a couple of years for the statistics to catch up because this really is a hot industry with billion-dollar projects. Once a century a billion-dollar project comes through; it would be especially (wonderful) for a smaller area like ours.”
