Oregon Public Broadcasting

Portland Community College announced plans today to build what would be Oregon's largest ground-mounted solar project. The 500-kilowatt array would cover 32-thousand square feet of open land on the Rock Creek campus. Gina Whitehill-Baziuk with PCC says the college will get a project that's worth far more than what they're spending on it.

"The value of the installation is going to be, conservatively, about 2.5 million dollars. And the college – through a power purchase agreement – is paying 830-thousand dollars for 20 years worth of energy."

Whitehill-Baziuk says the college agreed to buy power at a rate that's competitive right now, and won't change if rates rise in the future.

College officials credit a bond measure voters approved three years ago, for freeing up money for the solar project.  The panels for the project are expected to come from the Solar World plant – not far from PCC’s Rock Creek campus - in Hillsboro. Officials hope to break ground in the next few weeks, and finish the project in early spring.