First projects in Oregon’s mandated community solar program now coming online

Four community solar farms are coming online in Oregon within the Portland General Electric service territory. Each 2.5-MW project is supported by renewable energy provider Neighborhood Power and Mana Monitoring.

Three of the projects, online now, are the first projects commissioned in Oregon’s state-mandated community solar program.
Daimler Trucks, WorldMark by Wyndham – Portland Waterfront Park vacation club resort and Clackamas County have all committed to their renewable energy goals as initial subscribers. A small number of subscriptions are still available today for small commercial businesses (with energy loads less than 30 kW, such as law offices, restaurants, gas stations, car washes and others) as well as low-income residential customers. Visit neighborhoodpower.com/community-solar to subscribe to the Oregon community solar farms.

“We believe everyone deserves the opportunity to benefit from renewable energy but also recognize not every home, building, or housing situation allows for the purchase and installation of solar PV,” said Benjamin S. Collinwood, vice president of sales at Neighborhood Power. “Community solar projects like this help contribute to a healthier environment for the entire community, and Mana Monitoring helps us ensure our solar farms reach peak performance and generate the expected returns we can pass on to subscribers.”

Operating under the Oregon Community Solar Program, this project enables commercial and qualified low-income residential customers to purchase energy from local renewable resources, delivering the advantages of renewable energy credits and reduced electricity bills. Subscribers save an average of 5 to 20% on annual electricity costs.

Neighborhood Power is leveraging the Mana Monitoring Platform to track, report and manage each farm’s production in one centralized dashboard to ensure optimal performance. Mana Monitoring specializes in aggregating solar PV and renewable energy site portfolios into a single platform, providing optimized monitoring, streamlined system maintenance and automated reporting.

“Real-time monitoring is essential for managers of community solar projects like Neighborhood Power to optimize system uptime, which ultimately translates into maximum savings for subscribers,” said Zoltan Milaskey, president of Mana Monitoring. “Mana Monitoring’s platform is used on more than 500 MW of energy nationally, and working with other renewable energy experts like Neighborhood Power allows us to bring our combined experience to Oregon in a powerful way.”

News item from Mana

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Original Source: https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2021/04/first-projects-in-oregons-mandated-community-solar-program-now-coming-online/