PORTLAND, ORSNAPSHOT

City Population
Metro Area Population / 568,380
2,159,720
(2006)
Serving Utilities / -Portland General Electric (PGE)
-Pacific Power
Utility Ownership Type / Investor Owned Utility
Prior Solar Installations
Photovoltaics(PV)
Solar Hot Water (SHW)
City Solar Installation Goal(s) / Increase private installation rate by 400% from 2006 by 2009
Other City Green Goal(s)
Total Program Funds
Amount Awarded
Cost Share / $478,458
$200,000
$278,458

APPROACH

City of Portland’s Solar Now! Program will pursue solar market transformation for Portland residents, businesses, and city operations. The program will work with other City bureaus to ease the regulatory process by streamlining city-level regulations for contractors, homeowners and businesses. The City will use its influence as a regulator, educator and motivator to reach the larger regional community.

City of Portland will facilitate market transformation as an end user of solar technology on its own facilities, as well as use proven marketing and outreach strategies to promote solar adoption within the commercial and residential public. Solar Now! will work with other jurisdictions to promote solar as renewable energy option. In collaboration with its partners and in partnership with the Solar America Initiative, by year 2010, the City of Portland will have become a leader in solar energy.

PARTNERS

  • The City of Portland Office of Sustainable Development (Project Lead)
  • Energy Trust of Oregon
  • Oregon Department of Energy
  • Oregon Solar Energy Industries Association
  • Solar Oregon

Portland, OR “Solar Environment” BENCHMARKING & TRACKING MATRIX

The Benchmarking & Tracking Matrix provides a quarterly overview of the City’s status with regard to policies and activities that affect solar deployment. For cities awarded in 2007, benchmarking was completed July 1 – September 30, 2007; for cities awarded in 2008, benchmarking was completed April 1 – June 30, 2008. For each policy or activity marked as “Yes,” the listed status is hyperlinked to a more detailed description in the below “Benchmarking & Tracking Description.” For some policies or activities there are multiple providers listed. If no status is listed for a certain policy or action, it means DOE staff have not yet confirmed the status.

Solar Environment / Benchmark: 2007
Jul 1 – Sept 30 / 2007
Oct 1 –
Dec 31 / 2008
Jan 1 –
Mar 31 / 2008
Apr 1 –
Jun 30 / 2008
Jul 1 –
Sept 30 / 2008
Oct 1 –
Dec 31 / 2009
Jan 1 –
Mar 31 / 2009
Apr 1 –
Jun 30
Rules, Regulations, and Policies
Interconnection Standards
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES
Net Metering
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES
Solar Set-Asides in RPS
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Public Benefits Funds
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES
Solar Access Laws
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO* / NO* / NO* / NO* / NO* / NO*
Solar Mandates in Building Standards
City / NO* / NO* / NO* / NO* / NO* / NO*
State / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES
Expedited Solar System Permitting / Zoning
City / NO / NO / NO / YESU / YES / YES
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Solar in Emergency Preparedness Plan
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Financial Incentives
Direct Incentives
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES
Low-Interest Loans / Innovative Financing Packages
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES
Income/Investment Tax Credits
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES
Corporate Tax Credit
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / YES / YES / YESU / YES / YES / YES
Property Tax Incentives
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES
Sales Tax Incentives
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Permit Fee Waivers/Discounts
City / NO / NO / NO / YESU / YES / YES
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Property Tax Assessment Financing
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Industry Development Incentives
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / YES / YES / YESU / YES / YES / YES
Utility Programs
Other NotableCity Programs
Portland - Green Power Purchasing & Generation / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES
Portland - Green Investment Fund / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES
Northwest Solar Cooperative - Green Tag Purchase / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES

Portland, OR “Solar Environment” BENCHMARKING & TRACKING DESCRIPTION

The Benchmarking & Tracking Description provides more detailed information with regard to policies and activity status listed in the Matrix. While the Matrix is updated quarterly, new entries are only added to the Description if there has been a change to the existing policy or activity. The date accompanying each entry is the date when that entry was added to this tracking document; not necessarily the date the policy or activity changed.

RULES, REGULATIONS, AND POLICIES

Interconnection Standards

Benchmark: September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (YES)The PUC rules include three levels of interconnection for net-metered systems, and require the use of a standard application, a standard agreement, and reasonable procedural timelines for utilities and applicants. Each utility must designate an employee or office from which an applicant can obtain basic application forms and information through an informal process. With the exception of certain inverter-based systems 25 kW or less, a manual, external disconnect switch is required. Utilities may not require customers to purchase additional liability insurance or to name the utility as an "additional insured" on the customer's liability policy. For more information visit:

Net Metering

Benchmark: September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (YES) Oregon has established separate net-metering laws and regulations for its primary investor-owned utilities (PGE and PacifiCorp), and for its municipal utilities and electric cooperatives. The Oregon Public Utilities Commission (PUC) adopted new rules for net metering for PGE and PacifiCorp customers in July 2007, raising the individual system limit from 25 kilowatts (kW) to two megawatts (MW) for nonresidential applications. The limit on individual residential systems is 25 kW. Systems that generate electricity using solar power, wind power, hydropower, fuel cells or biomass resources are eligible. Net-metered systems must be intended primarily to offset part or all of a customer’s requirements for electricity. Utilities may not limit the aggregate capacity of net-metered systems. For more information visit:

Solar Set-Asides in RPS

City: (NO)

State: (NO)

Public Benefits Funds

Benchmark: September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (YES)Oregon's 1999 electric-utility restructuring legislation (SB 1149) required Pacific Power and Portland General Electric (PGE) to collect a 3% public-purpose charge from their customers to support renewable energy and energy efficiency projects for a 10-year period. The Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC) authorized the Energy Trust of Oregon, an independent non-profit organization, to administer these programs beginning in 2002. Of the funds collected by the utilities, 67% must be allocated towards energy efficiency programs and 17% to renewables. The remaining funds support low-income housing energy assistance and K-12 school energy-conservation efforts. Click here for an overview of all of the Energy Trust's programs. For more information visit:

Solar Access Laws

Benchmark: September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (NO*)While the State of Oregon does not have solar access laws, Oregon state law allows municipalities and local authorities to establish solar access laws. Access laws are intended to protect solar access to the south face of buildings during solar heating hours, taking into account existing development, vegetation, and planned uses. The ordinances may include standards for orientation of new streets and lots, placement and height of new buildings, and the placement of new trees on public property. City and county laws are generally designed to protect south-facing roof space for active solar energy systems such as solar electric and solar hot water panels, as opposed to daylighting and passive solar heating that require southern exposure to a building's wall.For more information visit:

Solar Mandates in Building Standards

Benchmark: September 30, 2007

City:(NO*) Solar in City Design Guidelines - As part of its Solar America Cities activities, Portland plans to integrate solar into city design guidelines for the Central City. Building projects in Portland’s Central City are subject to design review, overseen by the City’s Design Commission. The standards to which projects must conform are articulated in adopted guidelines that the Commission uses to evaluate proposed projects. Portland will pursue solar guidelines as part of a broader process to address sustainable design issues. The end result will be written guidelines as well as images and written captions that illustrate the design concepts Portland desires for its Central City.

City:(NO*) Portland - Green Building Policy and LEED Certification: While the City of Portland does not have building standards that mandate solar, in 2001, the City adopted a Green Building Policy requiring new construction and major renovations of all city facilities to meet the Certified level of LEED. This policy was amended on April 27, 2005 by Resolution Number 36310, which was adopted by the Portland City Council. This amendment increased the requirement for new public buildings to LEED Gold. Additionally, all city-owned, occupied, existing buildings must achieve LEED for Existing Buildings at the Silver level.

State:(YES) Enacted in June 2007, House Bill 2620 introduced a unique requirement for installing solar energy systems on public buildings. The bill requires all public building projects for which the total contract price is $1,000,000 or more to include solar technologies. The investment in solar technology for a public building must amount to at least 1.5% of the total contract price. The solar energy system can either be solar electric or solar thermal systems, and can also include passive solar if it will achieve an energy consumption reduction of at least 20%. This policy also applies to major renovation projects if the cost of the renovation exceeds $1,000,000 and 50% of the total value of the building. For more information visit:

Expedited Solar System Permitting / Zoning

Benchmark: September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (NO)

June 30, 2008 U

City: (YES)In May 2008, the city released Solar Permitting guides with updates made to the permitting process. Solar systems can use a prescriptive standard mounting technique and receive a same-day permit. Larger systems and unique mounting techniques still require engineering review by the city.

Solar in Emergency Preparedness Plan

City: (NO)

State: (NO)

FINANCIAL INCENTIVES

Direct Incentives

Benchmark: September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (YES) Energy Trust - Solar Electric Buy-Down Program: PGE residential customers receive $2.25/watt for PV systems and Pacific Power customers receive $2/watt for PV systems ($10,000 cap per site) from the Energy Trust of Oregon made available through the Solar Now! campaign. Commercial, Industrial: $1/W - $1.75/W for Pacific Power; $1.25/W - $1.50/W for PGE. Nonprofit, Gov't: $1/W - $1.25/W for Pacific Power; $1.25/W - $2.00/W for PGE. For more information visit:

State: (YES) Energy Trust - Solar Water Heating Buy-Down Program: For PGE and Pacific Electric residential and commercial customers using electric water heating: Solar water heating: $0.40 per first-year kWh savings, solar pool heating: $0.10 per first-year kWh savings. Natural gas hot water customers get $0.30 per first-year kWh savings for residential SHW, $0.07 per first-year kWh savings for residential pool heating, $6.00 per first-year therm savings for commercial SHW, and $1.50 per first-year therm savings for commercial pool heating. Incentives are capped as follows:

  • Residential solar domestic water heating: $1,500
  • Residential solar pool heating: $1,000
  • Commercial solar water or pool heating: 35% of system cost

For more information visit:

Low-Interest Loans / Innovative Financing Packages

Benchmark: September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (YES) The Oregon Small Scale Energy Loan Program (SELP) is administered by the Oregon Department of Energy and was created in 1981 after voters approved a constitutional amendment authorizing the sale of bonds to finance small scale, local energy projects. The sale of bonds is made on a periodic basis and, occasionally, to accommodate a particularly large loan request. The program offers low-interest loans for projects that:

  • Save energy;
  • Produce energy from renewable resources such as water, wind, geothermal, solar, biomass, waste materials or waste heat;
  • Use recycled materials to create products;
  • Use alternative fuels; and
  • Reduce energy consumption during construction or operation of another facility

Loans are available to individuals, businesses, schools, cities, counties, special districts, state and federal agencies, public corporations, cooperatives, tribes, and non-profits. For more information visit:

Income/Investment Tax Credits

Benchmark: September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (YES) Residential Energy Tax Credit: Photovoltaic (PV) systems and fuel cells are eligible for $3 per peak watt with a maximum limit of $6,000, up to 50% of the installed cost. (The maximum credit was increased from $1,500 as a result of SB 31, enacted in September 2005.) However, the amount claimed in any one tax year may not exceed $1,500 or the taxpayer's tax liability, whichever is less. Unused credits may be carried forward for five years. Solar space and water heating systems, and wind-powered mechanical systems are eligible for a credit of 60 cents per kWh saved during the first year, up to $1,500. Spa and pool heating systems are eligible for a tax credit of 15 cents per kWh saved, up to 50 percent of the cost, with a maximum tax credit of $1,500. For more information:

Corporate/ Business Energy Tax Credit

Benchmark: September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (YES) Oregon's Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC) is for investments in energy conservation, recycling, renewable energy resources, sustainable buildings, and less-polluting transportation fuels. Any Oregon business may qualify, including but not limited to, manufacturing plants, stores, offices, apartment buildings, farms, and transportation. The tax credit can cover costs directly related to the project, including equipment cost, engineering and design fees, materials, supplies and installation costs. Loan fees and permit costs also may be claimed. However, replacing equipment at the end of its useful life or equipment required to meet codes or other government regulations are not eligible. Maintenance costs are also not eligible.

HB 3201, enacted in July 2007, increased the tax credit to 50% of the total cost, with a maximum credit of $10 million. The 50% tax credit is taken over five years -- 10% each year. Any unused credit may be carried forward up to eight years. Those with eligible project costs of $20,000 or less may take the tax credit in one year. These changes are retroactive to include projects beginning on or after January 1, 2007; and the sunset date is January 1, 2016. For more information visit:

April 30, 2008 (YES)U

State: (YES) In March 2008, HB 3619 increased the maximum credit just for manufacturers of renewable energy equipment to $20 million (50% of a $40 million facility). HB 3619 also requires the Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) to set standards related to what constitutes a manufacturing facility, as well as the facility’s minimum level of increased employment, financial viability, and the influence that the BETC would have on a manufacturer locating in Oregon. ODOE can apply those standards to certify a lesser amount of costs than applied for, including zero costs. HB 3619 also requires ODOE to consider criteria relating to the state’s general fund before determining the amount of costs eligible for the BETC.

The tax credit is also available to homebuilders who install renewable energy systems on the homes they construct. The maximum tax credit for a homebuilder is $9,000 per single-family home, or $12,000 if the system is installed on a certified high-performance home. To be considered a high-performance home, the dwelling must be certified through the Energy Star Homes Northwest Program, and meet additional requirements outlined in the technical requirements.

Renewable resource projects must replace at least 10% of the electricity, gas or oil used. The energy can be used on site or sold.

Property Tax Incentives

Benchmark: September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (YES) ORS 307.175 states that the added value to any property from the installation of a qualifying renewable energy system may not be included in the assessment of the property’s value for property tax purposes. Qualifying renewables include solar, geothermal, wind, water, fuel cell or methane gas systems for the purpose of heating, cooling or generating electricity. This exemption is intended for end users and does not apply to property owned by anyone directly or indirectly involved in the energy industry. For more information visit:

Sales Tax Incentives

City: (NO)

State: (NO)

Permit Fee Waivers / Discounts

Benchmark: September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (NO)

June 30, 2008U

City: (YES) In May 2008, the city released Solar Permitting guides that outline the updated permitting process. In the past, solar installers and the permitting office were confused on the type and cost of the required permit. The new process requires Building and Electrical permits for a PV system, and Building and Plumbing permits for a solar hot water system. The combined permitting price for a residential system is less than $100, which is less than a traditional Building permit based on the total project cost. The value of a PV system is the total project cost minus the costs of the PV modules and inverters. Solar systems can use a prescriptive standard mounting technique and receive a same-day permit. Larger systems and unique mounting techniques still require engineering review by the city.

Property Tax Assessment Financing

City: (NO)

State: (NO)

Industry Development Incentives

Benchmark: September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (YES) Enacted in July 2007, HB 3201 established a tax credit for manufacturers of renewable energy systems. The tax credit equals 50% of the construction costs of a facility that will manufacture renewable energy systems, and includes the costs of the building, excavation, machinery and equipment which is used primarily to manufacturer renewable energy systems. The credit may also be applied to the costs of improving an existing facility that will be used to manufacture renewable energy systems. The 50% credit is taken over the course of five years, at 10% each year. For more information visit: