3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2016
PUC recommends more taxpayer-funded solar incentives
Solar still
an emerging
industry
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — The state’s
Public Utility Commission
has recommended the Legisla-
ture consider adopting taxpay-
er-funded incentive programs
for solar energy projects.
The PUC spent the past few
months evaluating and gather-
ing input on the state’s solar
incentive programs, and voted
Tuesday to pass along the sub-
stance of its recommendations
to the Legislature.
The state already has sev-
eral taxpayer-funded programs
intended to encourage the
development of solar energy
projects. Some of those incen-
tives are scheduled to sunset
soon.
Another handful of rate-
payer-funded programs are
paid for only by customers of
speciic utilities.
The report states that if the
Legislature “wants to capture
the full social and economic
development beneits” of sys-
tems that convert solar energy
into electricity, that taxpay-
er-funded incentives — pro-
grams that all Oregonians,
regardless of utility provider,
pay for and reap the beneits of
— are the way to go.
The PUC released two pre-
liminary drafts of the report —
required by legislation in 2015
— earlier this year.
Solar companies had
objected to the PUC’s initial
description in an early draft of
the solar energy landscape in
Oregon as “robust.”
Jeff Bissonnette, the exec-
utive director of the Oregon
Solar Energy Industries Asso-
ciation, said in public com-
ments Tuesday the inal draft
was an improvement from ini-
tial drafts.
Emerging industry
He said that solar energy
was still an emerging industry
and that he hoped the demand
for solar energy in Oregon
would remain stable. He added
that his group was preparing
an Oregon-speciic solar busi-
ness plan to evaluate the future
potential of solar energy.
The commission noted in
its inal report that it’s dificult
to calculate the beneits and
costs of each incentive pro-
gram designed to encourage
solar energy development, as
projects or individual custom-
ers are often eligible for more
than one incentive program.
Oregonians who beneit
from any of the state’s incen-
tives can still receive a federal
Walking on sunshine: Idaho
company debuts solar sidewalks
Glass pavers
could provide
energy source
Going green
Solar Roadways is among a
growing number of companies
embracing renewable energy as
the U.S. aims to reduce carbon
emissions by one-third from
2005 levels by 2030.
But it is the only business
receiving federal highway
research money in pursuit of
solar road panels, part of the
Federal Highway Administra-
tion’s efforts to ight climate
change, said Doug Hecox, a
spokesman for the agency in
Washington, D.C.
Brusaw and his wife, Julie,
got the idea for their Idaho
business after watching the Al
Gore movie “An Inconvenient
Truth” and deciding they also
wanted to join the battle against
global warming.
They aren’t the only ones
eyeing roads and sidewalks as a
potential energy source. A solar
bike path was built in the Neth-
erlands in 2014, and Germany
and France have announced
plans to build solar roads in the
future.
The Brusaws hope to beat
them into mass production.
Incorporated in 2006, Solar
Roadways has received three
FHA grants, totaling $1.6 mil-
lion, and funding from the state
and a local economic devel-
opment agency. It also drew
50,000 donors who raised
$2.2 million on Indiegogo, a
crowd-sourcing site.
KLAMATH FALLS —
The U.S. Secretary of Interior
supports the removal of four
hydroelectric dams on Ore-
gon’s Klamath River.
The Herald & News
reported that Secretary Sally
Jewell endorsed the plan Mon-
day in a letter sent to the Fed-
Home and small
commercial projects
The commission also rec-
ommended legislators look at
creating taxpayer-supported
programs that incentivize res-
idential and small commercial
solar developments.
The second recommenda-
tion in the PUC’s report is tied
into another piece of legislation
that laid out requirements for
how much of the state’s energy
should come from small-scale
solar energy projects.
That legislation, known as
the coal-to-clean bill, required
electric companies credit own-
ers or subscribers to so-called
community solar projects in
such a way that relects the
value that solar energy pro-
vides the electricity grid, a con-
cept called “resource value.”
The PUC is in the pro-
cess of determining that value.
After that, the PUC plans to
evaluate what the beneits and
costs of using that resource
value-driven
methodology
would be, according to the
report.
Finally, the PUC also rec-
ommended that the Energy
Trust of Oregon, which admin-
isters a solar electricity pro-
gram paid for by a portion
of public purpose charges on
Portland General Electric and
PaciiCorp bills, should mod-
ify its use of those funds to
support high-value projects
that provide “unique beneits”
to the utility system.
An example of a unique
beneit would be a project that
improves reliability, according
to the report.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
eral Energy Regulatory Com-
mission asking it to approve
an application for dam
demolition.
The dam would also be
transferred from its current
owner, PaciiCorp, to Klam-
ath River Renewal Corp., a
consortium of federal, state
and local oficials. That would
relieve PaciiCorp of all liabil-
ity once the dams are decom-
missioned and removed.
The Klamath County bal-
lot will still contain an up or
down vote on whether the
dams should be removed, but
it is mostly symbolic. It could
be used as an argument against
the project if the vote is over-
whelmingly against dam
removal.
AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios
Solar Roadways founders Scott Brusaw, left, and Ju-
lie Brusaw display a one-third sized replica of one of
their solar pavement panels at a news conference in
Sandpoint, Idaho as Sandpoint mayor Shelby Rogns-
tad looks on at right.
AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios
A solar pavement panel,
produced by Solar Road-
ways company, is dis-
played at a news confer-
ence in Sandpoint, Idaho.
three times the legal limit for a
semitrailer.
They are made of tempered
glass, weigh about 70 pounds
each and contain lights that can
be programmed to direct traf-
ic or alert drivers to problems.
Each hexagonal panel is about
31 inches point-to-point.
The panels contain micro-
processors that allow them to
communicate with each other, a
central control station and vehi-
cles. They also are designed to
be easily replaced if damaged.
According to Solar Road-
ways, heat produced by the
panels keeps roadways
snow- and ice-free, improv-
ing winter driving safety.
The panels can currently
be used for sidewalks, drive-
ways and parking lots. The
company is still seeking per-
mission from the federal
government to use them in
roads.
What’s next?
Solar Roadways wants
to set up a manufacturing
facility for the glass panels
in Sandpoint as early as next
year.
“We want to get the cost
down to where the average
homeowner can afford it,”
Julie Brusaw said.
For now, the Brusaws are
doing custom jobs, but they
envision do-it-yourselfers
buying the panels at hard-
ware stores.
The next public instal-
lations will be in Baltimore
and at a Route 66 rest area
in Missouri, Scott Brusaw
said. Both are surfaces for
pedestrians.
Nike co-founder pledges $500
million to University of Oregon
Associated Press
EUGENE
—
Nike
co-founder Phil Knight and his
wife have pledged $500 mil-
lion to the University of Ore-
gon toward a new scientiic
research facility.
The
Register-Guard
reported that the donation is
the largest ever awarded to UO
and is meant to launch a $1 bil-
lion, 10-year effort to build a
three-building complex and
add new graduate students and
post-doctoral researchers to
the university.
The Knight donation will
be provided over 10 years
and will go toward construc-
tion of the new facility and
also to endowments to gen-
erate income for new faculty
positions.
UO President Michael
Schill says the $500 million
pledge is the biggest ever to a
U.S. public lagship university.
W A NTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A
Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500
Dawn McIntosh rejoins Campbell & Popkin
Judge-elect Dawn McIntosh has rejoined Campbell &
Popkin to work closely with Chris Palmer, in whom
she has great conidence. Dawn and Chris are both
well-known for skillfully representing clients in di-
vorce, seperation, custody and other family law mat-
ters. Campbell & Popkin also provides services in
business law, litigation, real estate, estate planning and
probate. Dawn and Chris are both taking new clients.
Dawn McIntosh
www.campbellpopkin.com
Chris Palmer
503-738-8400 • 1580 N. Roosevelt Drive, Seaside
C OMING M ONDAY!
BEWARE
OF THIS DRIVER ...
he is doing 65 ...
even while parked!
Happy birthday,
Mustang Alex!
In a five-day special report,
The Daily Astorian describes the problem and search
for housing solutions through the eyes of professionals,
developers, homeowners and renters.
The shor tage of
housing options affects:
Can glass support
semis?
Solar Roadways has been
testing the strength of its half-
inch-thick glass by dropping
1-pound steel balls on it from a
height of 8 feet, a standard test
for concrete. So far, the tests
have been successful, Brusaw
said.
The glass has a traction
surface that is equivalent to
asphalt. In tests, vehicles are
able to stop in the required dis-
tance, he said.
In strength tests, the pan-
els can hold 250,000 pounds,
of a solar PV system. Cur-
rently that exemption is sched-
uled to run out in 2018.
Interior secretary supports
Oregon dam removal
Associated Press
By NICHOLAS K.
GERANIOS
Associated Press
SANDPOINT, Idaho —
Scott Brusaw has a vision for
the nation’s roads.
He believes the solar-pow-
ered glass pavers his company
makes could transform thou-
sands of miles of pavement into
a new energy source.
His business, Solar Road-
ways, recently unveiled its
irst public installation, in a
downtown plaza in this north-
ern Idaho resort town. It’s 150
square feet of hexagon-shaped
solar panels that people can
walk and bicycle on.
The company is working
on proof that the panels, for
which it has a patent, are strong
enough and have enough trac-
tion to handle motor vehicles,
including semitrailers.
“Our plan is to replace all
the asphalt and concrete,” said
Brusaw, noting concrete occu-
pies over 48,000 square miles
in the U.S. “If you cover it with
solar panels, we can make three
times our energy needs.”
solar investment tax credit,
according to the report.
A joint interim legislative
committee is currently con-
ducting a review of the state
Department of Energy, which
has faced intense scrutiny in
the wake of the troubled Busi-
ness Energy Tax Credit pro-
gram. That program ended in
2014.
In light of the Department
of Energy review, the PUC did
not offer speciic recommen-
dations on what form taxpayer
incentives should take, but that
the Legislature should study
continuing an exemption on
property taxes for people who
have their own solar photovol-
taic arrays.
An array or other renewable
energy system can increase a
home’s value, but since 2011,
the state has allowed property
tax assessments to leave out
any increase in property value
resulting from the installation
• All income levels
• All walks of life
MONDAY:
Overview
of the
issues
county-
wide
• All ages
• All areas
FRIDAY:
WEDNESDAY: THURSDAY:
County
and rural
South
TUESDAY: Warrenton
areas
County
Astoria