Solar Pioneer Project

Since Earth Day, April 22, 2002, our state capitol building has been illuminated by solar power, thanks in part to PGE’s Clean Wind^SM customers.

“Oregon has always supported its pioneers,” says Christopher Dymond, energy analyst for the Oregon Office of Energy.  “Here we have a technology that found a way to take sand and aluminum and turn it into a material that converts sunlight to electricity.  The green power ratepayers of PGE made this project possible.”

PGE's Clean Wind customers helped pay for the photovoltaic array and also receive more than half the power generated by these solar panels.  The rest of the power is used to light the 8-½ ton bronze and gold leaf Oregon Pioneer statue.

Buying renewable energy from PGE helps create new sources of renewable energy, like this solar project, making our state the first in the U.S. to have its Capitol building illuminated by solar power.