Bill offers home insulation retrofits
An Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Technology law will provide $15 million in loans in the next 2 years
 
By David Steves – The Register-Guard – August 3, 2009

How would you like to be able to add insulation that keeps your house cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter — and then pay for it with the money you could end up saving on your utility bill over the next 20 years?

It may sound too good to be true, but it’s just what new state legislation promises to deliver.

The new Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Technology bill, signed into law in Eugene by Gov. Ted Kulongoski, will provide $15 million in loans over the next two years to Oregon homeowners. Unlike conventional home improvement loans, the money can be repaid with utility bills.

The bill’s authors, including Rep. Chris Edwards, D-Eugene, say they fully expect that the reduced energy usage — and lower utility bills — will provide consumers with enough savings to pay back the loans.

Edwards was part of a bipartisan group of House members who came up with the bill and worked it through the 2009 session. It is now awaiting Oregon Department of Energy rule-making so it can be tested in a few areas.

Eugene is one of five places in Oregon to express interest in piloting the program. If it’s included as a testing area, then Eugene residents could be taking out loans and hiring contractors to retrofit their homes for greater energy efficiency or to add renewable energy components by late this year or early next year, Edwards said.

Edwards became interested in pursuing such a program a couple of years ago, after having an energy audit on his west Eugene home and deciding to add insulation to the walls, replace the front door with one that kept out winter cold and summer heat, and upgrade ductwork that was letting heat from the furnace escape before reaching rooms in the house.

It cost a few thousand dollars. The Edwardses were able to pay for it out of their savings account. But it got the state lawmaker thinking about what other people can and can’t pay for once they learn about energy inefficiencies in their homes.

“I recognized in the process that a lot of people could not afford the up-front cash,” he said. “But if you can spread that out over time, the cost is lower than the amount you’ll save in lower utility bills.”

Under the EEAST program, applicants can get loans up to $40,000, although architect and state Rep. Jules Bailey, D-Portland, said most loans will most likely be for $7,000 or less.

With interest rates of 1 percent or 2 percent, the principal and interest would add $20 to $30 to most monthly utility bills over 15 to 30 years, he said.

The idea, although on Oregon’s law books only a week, has been gaining attention nationally. Bailey said he was peppered with questions about it from other states’ lawmakers at a recent National Conference of State Legislatures convention in Philadelphia.

Last week, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., successfully pushed an amendment on the Senate floor that spells out the U.S. Department of Energy’s authority to offer loan guarantees to energy efficiency retrofit programs patterned after the Oregon EEAST program.

The Eugene Water & Electric Board already offers a no-interest loan program for such upgrades, but borrowers must pay EWEB back in full within five or fewer years, said the utility’s Jason Heuser. That limits the program to those who can afford to pay back several thousand dollars in a few years.

“There might be a demographic out there of people who, because of their monthly income, may be willing to have a 2 percent interest rate if it means they have 15 or 20 years to pay it back,” said Heuser, EWEB’s lobbyist, who worked on the EEAST legislation.

The following editorial from Eugene’s Register-Guard suggests that Eugene should aspire to become a “center for the emerging solar power industry” as well as ”solar panel design and manufacture” based in part on Centron Solar’s decision to locate there. 

The editorial notes that, “[m]ost of the 30 companies involved in the consortium would never have heard of Eugene if it weren’t for Centron Solar”.  Actually, the real reason the consortium companies have heard of Eugene is because of Ocean Yuan, the President of Centron Solar.  Yuan graduated from the University of Oregon’s Lundquist School of Business in 1993 and feels that Eugene is “an ideal place for our foothold to establish a logistics center in the United States,” as Eugene is strategically located along the Interstate-5 corridor and can serve the entire West Coast.

It’s too bad that Yuan didn’t go to school in Central Oregon.  If he had maybe Centron Solar would have located it’s current 10 high-level managers plus the 200 to 300 additional employees it plans to hire within a year here.  Central Oregon can also be described as a “strategically located logistics center” – expecially for product design and sales – that can serve the entire West Coast. Plus we have much more solar powering sunshine than the Willamette Valley.

 # # #

A foot in the solar door
Eugene’s solar industry breakthrough still ahead
 
Register-Guard Editorial – July 13, 2009

It’s welcome news that a consortium of 30 Chinese companies in the solar power industry intends to establish its U.S. sales hub in Eugene. If Centron Solar’s sales model works as planned, 200 to 300 salespeople based in Eugene will be selling solar panels nationwide within a year. But Centron will not, in itself, bring a breakthrough of the kind Eugene has been hoping for, one that would make the city a center of the emerging solar power industry.

China is the world leader in the manufacture of solar photovoltaic panels, but the United States remains a relatively small market for Chinese companies — which explains why some of them would prefer to work through a consortium such as Centron. The consortium relieves them of the need to make their own sales, assembly, distribution, installation and service arrangements. Centron offers the Chinese companies a way to enter the U.S. market without making a large investment.

Eugene would be in an enviable position if it became a conduit for world leaders in the solar power industry, although it’s possible that a company would leave the consortium if it found itself supplying a large number of U.S. customers. A solar panel manufacturer might be expected to set up a separate U.S. subsidiary or joint venture once the volume of business justified such a move. Most of the 30 companies involved in the consortium would never have heard of Eugene if it weren’t for Centron Solar, and Eugene might be able to put itself in a position to play a role in their future plans for the U.S. market.

Centron says it also may establish one or two solar panel assembly lines in Eugene, employing up to 50 people. Assembly jobs would be welcome, but assembly is one or two steps down from the top of the food chain — Eugene should aspire to be a center for solar panel design and manufacture. Most assembly is likely to take place near the primary markets for solar panels, which tend to be in found in places where electricity from the power grid is most expensive. That’s not the Northwest, where cheap hydropower keeps electricity prices relatively low.

The long-term growth of the solar panel industry in the United States depends on continued reductions in the price of the electricity the panels produce. Currently, the affordability of solar power installations depends on federal and state tax breaks that cover half or more of the upfront cost. The tax breaks are more generous for commercial installations, which explains why solar panels on businesses’ rooftops have become a common sight, while residential systems remain relatively rare. The subsidies are intended to boost sales volumes, bringing about economies of scale and innovation. The aim should be to encourage the emergence of an industry that needs no subsidies.

Centron plans to push costs down by selling directly to installers, cutting one or more steps out of the distribution chain. Drawing efficient connections between manufacturer and consumer will be a part of the development of a cost-competitive solar industry. A bigger factor, however, will be narrowing the price gap between power from solar panels and power from the grid — and that will depend on technical and manufacturing improvements.

If those improvements could happen in Eugene, Centron might one day have an American-made product to sell. That would mark a true breakthrough in Eugene’s ambition of becoming a center for the emerging solar power industry.

Centron is a foot in the door — but it will take something else to cause the door to swing wide open.

Solar firm given warm reception
With Lane County unemployment at 14.2 percent, the new business is greeted with mostly open arms
By Sherri Buri McDonald – The Register-Guard – July 10, 2009

It’s not the leap that Portland and Salem took into the solar industry by landing major solar panel manufacturers. But a Chinese consortium’s plans to set up a hub here for solar panel sales in the United States could be Eugene’s first step into this emerging industry, said Desari Strader, executive director of the Oregon Solar Energy Industries Association.

“I know there’s another (solar) company kicking tires down there, as well,” she said.

Ocean Yuan is president of Centron Solar, a consortium of 30 Chinese solar businesses eager to gain a foothold in the potentially vast U.S. market.

Yuan told The Register-Guard on Wednesday that Centron Solar had leased a warehouse in west Eugene, assembled a management team of about 10 executives, and planned to hire up to 250 or 350 people in a year. About 200 to 300 of the positions would be “traditional white-collar jobs,” he said, and about 50 would be “green jobs,” assembling solar modules, or panels, for about $20 an hour, including benefits.

He said the consortium did not plan to set up major manufacturing or assembly operations in Eugene. Instead, the group plans to site assembly shops in multiple U.S. cities, closer to customers.

Centron Solar is moving quickly. It set up shop in Eugene two weeks ago, and on Thursday it launched its Web site, which listed seven open positions, including business development directors, technical support engineers and customer service representatives.

In the past year, Lane County has had a string of layoffs, including 1,000 jobs at the former Hynix computer-chip plant in west Eugene, and more than 2,000 jobs at local RV manufacturers.

“(Centron Solar) is certainly going to have a lot of people applying for those jobs,” said Brian Rooney, a labor economist with the state Employment Department.

Even if the consortium creates 200 to 300 jobs, however, it wouldn’t have much impact on the county’s unemployment rate, Rooney said. That rate stood at a seasonally adjusted 14.2 percent in May.

“But at this point any kind of job with decent pay, and especially benefits, will help those individuals” who are looking for work, he said.

The mere mention of hundreds of jobs had Raquel Tucker, assistant branch manager of Selectemp, a Springfield staffing service, attempting to contact Centron Solar on Thursday.

“We’re interested in helping them (with their hiring),” she said.

Chinese firms big on solar industry

Yuan, a ’93 business graduate from the University of Oregon, previously served as president of Solarfun Power USA and as global vice president of Smith & Associates, a semiconductor distribution company, according to Centron Solar’s Web site. Details on the other members of the consortium were not available on Thursday.

Chinese companies have made a big push into the solar panel market and now produce half of the world’s solar panels, Yuan said.

The Chinese manufacturers “have a very strong commitment,” said Jack Roberts, executive director of the Lane Metro Partnership, a local economic development agency. “They have a lot of resources … They’re making a very big play.”

Lane Metro Partnership helped Centron Solar secure the site they’re leasing in west Eugene, Roberts said. No incentives are involved, he said.

“In the hierarchy of solar, you have distribution, assembly and manufacturing,” Roberts said. “Manufacturing is obviously the holy grail,” as far as employment, pay scale, overall investment and the tax base, he said. “Whether these guys will be able to make a larger contribution in the distribution — if they get to 200 jobs it would be great — but we’re kind of working with them to see what happens.”

Other solar companies have expressed interest in Eugene, Roberts said.

“We’d like to get some companies involved in solar interested in working here, whether in distribution or assembly, with an eye eventually to the Hynix location for the manufacturing side,” he said. “That may not happen in one step.”

Hynix initially said it was looking at all possibilities for its shuttered plant: using it itself, using it in partnership with another company, or selling it to another company.

Now, Hynix’s goal is to sell the site, said Bobby Lee, the company’s Eugene spokesman. That could change, however, depending on the market, he said.

The burning question about Centron Solar is whether its direct sales approach will be successful.

The consortium plans to sell directly to solar panel installers, skipping the middle man, thereby lowering the cost.

“That model of selling direct makes some sense,” and it has worked for companies such as Amazon.com, Roberts said. “Fortunately, the way (Centron Solar) is doing it, it doesn’t look like there’s a large upfront investment to carry if things go bad.”

Local installers have mixed feelings

Local solar installers had mixed feelings about Centron Solar’s plans.

Steve Musser, renewables department manager at the Green Store in Eugene, said that Yuan dropped by the store a couple of weeks ago, and they established a good rapport.

Buying panels direct from the manufacturer could reduce prices by 30 percent to 40 percent, Musser said. That’s significant, he said, because the panels usually account for more than half the cost of the solar project.

Musser said he had mixed feelings about buying direct because he has relied on five or six distributors for years. However, he said, “I believe that bringing the cost down by going direct is very beneficial to society and would allow a lot more people to install solar, so I think that is the more important issue. We need to get the panels out there in the field making electricity as soon as possible and as much as possible.”

Musser added that if he does end up buying some panels direct, he’ll still support his distributors as much as possible.

Jim Wilcox, sales and marketing director at Solar Assist, another Eugene solar installer, said he hadn’t yet met anyone at Centron Solar.

He said he wants to learn more about the company and is excited about the possibility of more local solar industry jobs.

“We want to make sure the consumers are well protected by the company,” Wilcox said. “Solar panels generally have a 25-year warranty, so you want to make sure the company is reputable, and they can stand behind the 25-year warranty.

“We want to sit down and meet with them and discuss their products,” he said. “We’ll also do some querying within the industry itself, checking the background of the principals. One of the nice things about the solar industry is it’s a tight-knit group of people who are interested in protecting the integrity of the industry.”

Why Doesn’t Central Oregon Have a Renewable Energy Zone?

Five Oregon and Washington counties that straddle the Columbia River have joined forces and become the Columbia Gorge Bi-State Renewable Energy Zone. Those counties are: Hood River, Sherman and Wasco Counties in Oregon and Klickitat, Sherman and Skamania Counties in Washington.

They claim that because it’s “centrally located in the Pacific Northwest, the Columbia Gorge is an ideal location for renewable energy production, manufacturing, and research. They go on to say that “The area offers qualities such as a broad inventory of industrial property, mutli-modal transportation, renewable energy technology training, a favorable business climate, and an unbelievable quality of life.” They go on to invite the reader to “explore the links above to learn about this world-class renewable energy region and opportunities to invest your business.  Including:

Workforce training – Affordable industrial lands – Quality of life
Favorable business climate – Multi-modal transportation”

Why Not Central Oregon?

Is there any reason why the counties of Central Oregon (Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson) couldn’t join forces and do the same?  It would be so easy to simply reword the above description/sales pitch to read:

Located in the heart of  Oregon, Central Oregon is an ideal location for renewable energy production, manufacturing, and research. The area offers qualities such as a broad inventory of industrial property, mutli-modal transportation, renewable energy technology training, a favorable business climate, and an unbelievable quality of life. Explore the links on our website to learn about this world-class renewable energy region and opportunities to invest your business. 

It should be noted that Central Oregon does have one county – Crook – that has a Rural Renewable Energy Development Zone designation.  Although that is an admirable effort much more could and should be done to establish Central Oregon – and all of its counties –  a leader in renewable energy development and education.

The biggest reason Bend can’t be a “Solar City” is the lack of leadership and vision from the real estate and developer centric political players who effectively control the city (and the Central Oregon counties).  Portland, which has much less average sunlight than Central Oregon, led by its progressive leadership, created a Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, adopted a Solar Now! program and hired a Solar Program Coordinator.

# # #

Clouds Can’t Hold Back Portland’s Solar Expansion
by John Gartner – Matter Network – April 20, 2009

On an unusually warm and sunny April day, Portland Mayor Sam Adams accepted a Solar America Cities Award from the Department of Energy and pledged to greatly expand the amount of solar power in the city.

Portland was one of 25 cities to have earned the Solar City award in 2007-8 which included a matching grant of $200,000 to be used for outreach to consumers about the viability of solar in the often cloudy Northwest, and to work with private companies to produce and sell solar panels. Though the 2009 award, which was handed out at the National League of Cities Green Cities Conference does not guarantee another DOE grant, city officials are hopeful that a similar amount will be made available after the department’s budget is finalized in the next few months.

Mayor Adams, who took office in January, set a goal for the city of expanding the installed solar in the city from the current 2 megawatts to 5 megawatts by 2012, and hopes that the actual number will be around 10 megawatts. Adams said that after factoring in federal and state incentives in Oregon, solar is “getting dangerously to being at a commensurate price for grid power.”

The city is developing co-marketing opportunities with contractors, roofing companies and building inspectors to communicate to consumers that installing a new roof “is an ideal time for installing solar.” The city will also include marketing materials about solar to consumers in communications from the city-operated water and sewer utilities.

The mayor said he the U.S. lack of a national energy policy for energy independence “is an embarrassment,” and he would lobby congress to establish one. Regardless of any national change in policy for energy or capping carbon emissions, Adams said Portland will meet its goals. The long term goal “is to wean Portland entirely off of [coal power plants],” according to Adams.

Despite its reputation for rainy weather, Portland receives about an average amount of sunlight annually. The consistently clear days throughout the summer and early fall make up for the long winters with overcast skies. Portland will communicate to residents that despite the weather, installing solar is a viable option.

Since the inaugural DOE grant, Portland has streamlined the permitting process for solar so that applications can be approved in a single day, and the fee for residential solar was reduced to $100, according to Lee Rahr, Portland’s Solar Program Coordinator. For commercial solar installations, the cost of the inverters and solar panels have been removed from the cost of equipment which is used to calculate the permitting fee, which can lower business fees by up to 80 percent She added that Portland recently issued a 1.5 megawatt request for proposal to add solar to eight public facilities.

Portland residents will soon be able to see who in their neighborhood has installed solar. Partly funded by the DOE grant, the city has hired consultancy C2HM Hill to develop a solar map that shows every commercial and residential solar installation in the city.

Steph Stoppenhagen, the program manager for the solar map, said it will be modeled on the map that was created for San Francisco and will be available on June 9. The interactive map will provide residents with their estimated cost savings from installing solar using data that includes their roof size and annual projected sunlight.

Hannah Muller of the DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies program says the Solar America Cities program is a change in approach for her agency because it focuses on market transformation, not just research and development. As part of the award, city officials get access to DOE engineers to help troubleshoot on solar projects.

The grant programs, which must be matched by local government funds, are used to get universities, utilities and city planners involved in the expansion of solar. Muller says the success of the program has prompted other groups within DOE to ask for expansion of their programs to include market transformation.

It seems like it should be a no-brainer for the utility companies that service Central Oregon to put together a similar program.  And an electrical vehicle charging station designed and built by students from Central Oregon Community College would be natural in an area where, according to the local tourism bureaus, the sun shines over 300 days a year.

# # #

Lane Community College receives first EWEB Greenpower grant
Eugene Water & Electric Board Website – April 18, 2009

Lane Community College received a $100,000 grant from EWEB [Greenpower Grant Program] to build a solar-powered electric vehicle charging station for students and the community. EWEB’s Greenpower customers voted for the LCC project from among five local renewable energy and education projects.

The Greenpower grant will be combined with other funds to build the electric vehicle charging station. A grid of solar panels will be constructed, which will power 36 outlets to recharge plug-in electric or hybrid vehicles on the main LCC campus. Other funding will come from part of a recently passed LCC bond measure.

The LCC project will create opportunities for students to learn about how to install, repair and service the new solar array and vehicle charging station, will lower the community’s carbon footprint, will generate renewable energy, and will help the community learn more about the emerging technology of plug-in vehicles.

The first question that came to mind was why isn’t Central Oregon fighting to get these “unnamed” renewable energy businesses? Central Oregon has the same “cheap real estate” and “people hungry for jobs” as the area around Pendleton. Is Central Oregon missing the “Cowboy up!” attitude of the folks in Pendleton and La Grande?

The following is excerpts from the article.

# # #

Pendleton optimistic despite loss of RV plant
Several firms have shown interest in the site since Fleetwood announced its closure
By Richard Cockle – The Oregonian – March 31, 2009

The loss of a Fleetwood Travel Trailers of Oregon plant and its 253 jobs is bringing both pain and optimism to this Eastern Oregon rodeo and wheat town.

Sales clerk Mary Bonifer ran her fingers over a tooled leather belt in the Hamley & Co. store downtown while fretting about the idled workers and their families. She’s also worried about the impact of so many lost jobs on the rest of her town, population 16,830.

Still, a “Cowboy up!” attitude seems to pervade Pendleton, the home of the annual Pendleton Round-Up rodeo.

And there’s a chance that another manufacturer will move to the Fleetwood site. Within days of the company’s March 9 closure announcement, City Hall got at least 10 calls from distant corporations interested in Fleetwood’s two manufacturing buildings and 10 acres, said Tracy Bosen, economic development director for Pendleton.

“There are a lot of businesses that see these particular economic downturns as opportunities to relocate,” Bosen said. “Real estate is cheap, people are hungry for jobs, and cities and communities are willing to negotiate.”

The companies interested in Fleetwood’s buildings, which are just under 100,000 square feet each, include a wind turbine manufacturer, Bosen said, though he declined to name it. Eastern Oregon is fast becoming “wind turbine alley,” and the huge machines — many manufactured overseas — are going up by the hundreds around Pendleton, he said. “If there is a silver lining in this, a great facility has come open and it is available,” Bosen said.

Houk agreed, saying Pendleton is short on industrial space to attract outside companies. The Fleetwood site, he noted, is on flat ground that adjoins Interstate 84 and Union Pacific Railroad lines.

Fleetwood posted losses of $65.3 million in 2007 and $16.8 million last year. Even so, the closure announcement, in the midst of a national economic meltdown, was a shocker. It also left 162 workers jobless at a Fleetwood RV plant in La Grande, 50 miles to the east.

EWEB Greenpower customers to award grant
The utility will make up to $100,000 available for a single renewable energy project, with smaller grants planned for fall
By Susan Palmer – The Register-Guard – January 17, 2009

The Eugene Water & Electric Board on Friday announced a series of [Greenpower Grant Program] grants for renewable energy projects and invited its Greenpower customers to vote on who gets the first award.

The local utility will make up to $100,000 available this spring for a single project, with smaller grants up to $25,000 available in the fall, said Tom Williams, EWEB’s key accounts manager.

The money for the projects comes from EWEB customers who buy renewable energy either in the form of $1.50 or $10 blocks of power, or who pay an extra penny per kilowatt-hour to support EWEB’s wind farm and solar power projects.

EWEB invests those revenues back into renewable energy, and decided that supporting smaller-scale local projects could benefit groups such as schools, nonprofit organizations and public agencies that normally wouldn’t have the money to finance them upfront, Williams said.

Letting customers who pay extra for sustainable energy help choose the first project is part reward for participants and encouragement for others to sign up, Williams said.

In 2008, just more than 3 percent of EWEB’s customers, about 3,000, paid the extra charges for renewable energy. Besides the regular customers, Greenpower also got a boost from two special events — the Eugene Marathon and Olympic Trials. Organizers for those events paid the extra premium because they wanted their events associated with renewable energy, Williams said.

Tax exempt nonprofit groups, academic and public institutions are eligible for the grants.

The application deadline is Feb. 15. Once EWEB has narrowed the applications to a handful of choices, Greenpower customers will be eligible to vote for their favorite option either online or by mail beginning in mid-March. EWEB will announce the grant recipient at the annual Earth Day Celebration on April 18.

More information is available at EWEB’s web site, www.eweb.org by clicking on the Greenpower logo or on the “Sustainability” button near the top of the page.

The three newspaper articles below clearly report that, although generous incentives were major selling points, other key reasons for Sanyo Solar of Oregon to build their plant near Salem were “relatively cheap power and a good, affordable work force”.  Bend / Central Oregon can claim the same advantages.

Sanyo chose about 20 acres of vacant city-owned property at 5475 Gaffin Road SE for its new plant. Salem wants to turn 79 acres along Gaffin Road into a renewable energy and technology park.

City and economic development officials hope the solar cell plant will encourage other energy companies and their suppliers to locate here.  At a special meeting of Salem City Council , councilors approved a ground lease and purchase agreement with Sanyo for the Gaffin Road location. Sanyo will pay about $1.74 million for the 19.77 acres.

Councilors also signed off on enterprise zone tax breaks for Sanyo, which provide tax abatement on new construction and equipment. They agreed to extend the standard three-year enterprise zone tax break to five years.

# # #

City aims to become hub in green jobs
By Michael Rose – Statesman Journal – September 26, 2008
With the help of taxpayers, Salem has landed an important new employer.

Tax breaks and other economic incentives helped expedite Sanyo Solar of Oregon’s $80 million solar-cell manufacturing plant. On Thursday, the company’s plans to build a factory on 5475 Gaffin Road SE became public. The company is part of Sanyo Electric Co., a Japan-based corporation.

Those involved with recruiting Sanyo say providing incentives is a good trade-off for what Salem is getting: an internationally known company that could attract similar high-tech employers.

“This is the kind of thing that grows more jobs,” Salem Mayor Janet Taylor said.

Through tax breaks, land write-downs, grants and other methods, the city, county and state are spending at least $2 million to help Sanyo locate in Salem.

It’s worth it, officials said, because the factory will return much more to the area: an estimated $7.8 million in annual payroll.

The 19.77-acre Sanyo site is a portion of a 79-acre city-owned property. City leaders are attempting to turn the Gaffin Road location into a renewable energy and technology park. Since 1992, the area has been in Salem’s enterprise zone, which provides tax abatement on new construction and equipment.

Phase one of Sanyo’s two-phase project could be done by fall 2009; the second phase is expected to be completed in 2010.

The mayor views it as good news for Salem’s city budget.

“Good jobs mean people buy houses; they spend money in stores,” Taylor said. “All of that keeps property taxes not only stable but growing.”

To qualify for the enterprise zone tax break and several other incentives, Sanyo pledged to maintain an average salary and benefit package of $50,000 per worker and employ a minimum of 200 people for five years, a city report stated. Another condition for the enterprise zone tax break: Sanyo must consider hiring qualified employees from the local area.

“They are required to at least consider them. They are not required to hire anyone,” said Ray Burstedt, president of the the Strategic Economic Development Corp., better known as SEDCOR.

SEDCOR and city officials negotiated with Sanyo for more than a year in confidential meetings. Sanyo’s interest in Salem was publically disclosed at Thursday’s special city council meeting.

Lottery dollars sweetened the deal for Sanyo.

Marion County provided a $300,000 grant over three years from its allocation of state lottery funds. Sanyo can use the money to defray costs of transporting equipment to Salem, Burstedt said.

Meanwhile, the Mid-Valley Council of Governments provided $25,000 from lottery funds for workforce training.

In addition, state funds from the governor’s office will pay up to $1,427 per Sanyo employee for training provided by Chemeketa Community College, Burstedt said.

Salem and the state teamed up to provide more incentives, said Salem Urban Development Director Rick Scott.

The city applied for a $540,000 state grant for infrastructure to support development at the Gaffin Road site, Scott said. City coffers will contribute an additional $500,000 for water and sewer improvements on Gaffin Road, he said.

Salem agreed to reduce the land price by $500,000 — another incentive tied to Sanyo’s pledge to employ at least 200 people for five years. And the city waived a $180,000 sewer and water connection fee for the factory.

“These are very good paying jobs. It’s a Fortune 100 company, and we think there is nothing really bad that could come of this,” Scott said.

Sanyo officials declined to comment on the project after Thursday’s council meeting but later e-mailed a response.

The company’s California factory is operating at full capacity, and the company needed a new location to expand its production, said Akihiko Oiwa, a Sanyo spokesman, in the e-mail.

The state’s workforce was a plus, the company spokesman said. Workers with past experience in Oregon’s semiconductor industry have skills Sanyo needs for its solar cell plant, which will produce silicon ingots and slice them into wafers.

Oregon’s Business Energy Tax Credit was another positive for the state, Oiwa noted.

Part of the state’s emphasis on attracting renewable energy industries, the incentive provides a tax credit that is up to half of the energy facility’s cost. If issued, the tax credit is claimed over five years.

The tax credit has made Oregon known internationally in the solar industry as a place to do business.

“The state has seen solar energy companies as a fast-growing industry, and they have been doing a lot of recruiting,” said Salem City Manager Linda Norris. “I think that is how Oregon and Salem became noticed.”

# # #

Tax incentives, other goodies help lure Sanyo to Oregon
by Richard Read, The Oregonian – September 26, 2008

State officials welcomed a Japanese company’s announcement Friday that it will build a solar factory in Salem, while acknowledging that Oregon taxpayers could end up paying half the plant’s $80 million cost.

Sanyo Electric Co.’s solar plant could tap up to $40 million of renewable-energy tax credits in two years under an incentive expanded during the Legislature’s special session this year. State and local governments have promised a basket of other goodies for the factory, which is expected to employ 200 people. Together the subsidies could total more than $200,000 per job.

Sanyo is well worth the public investment, said Mike Grainey, Oregon Energy Department director.
“We see this as a shot in the arm for the entire mid-Willamette Valley,” Grainey said. “We’re expecting, based on conversations we’ve had with them, they will expand this facility over time.”

Grainey said officials are in serious discussions with at least a half-dozen more solar companies considering Oregon. One company, Grainey said, could make its decision within a month or so.

Oregon officials led by Gov. Ted Kulongoski aim to make the state a solar-manufacturing hub, in stiff competition with other states. During this year’s legislative session, lawmakers doubled the amount of project costs, to $40 million, that are eligible for 50 percent tax credits on renewable-energy plants.

Under the Business Energy Tax Credit program — known as BETC, familiarly pronounced “Betsy” — a manufacturer such as Sanyo can apply during one calendar year to receive a $20 million credit over five years. The next year, Sanyo managers could apply for an additional $20 million credit toward a second phase, if the project met eligibility tests.

“They have talked to us about multiple phases,” Grainey said.

Sanyo will break ground next week for the factory, which will make ingots and wafers for solar cells. As currently conceived, Grainey said, the plant could possibly qualify for two $20 million credits. The Legislature added a list of conditions for the credits, which companies can resell for one-third face value to receive cash up front.

Salem officials said Friday that Sanyo planned a first phase employing 118 to begin manufacturing next fall. They expect a second phase to go on line in 2010. The company, which will build on a 20-acre site, also has first rights for additional city-owned land in its anchor role at the Salem Renewable Energy and Technology Park.

Incentives, as well as relatively cheap power and a good, affordable work force, certainly helped attract Sanyo, said Akihiko Oiwa, a spokesman for the company’s North American division. “Public incentives are good support for the company,” Oiwa said.

In addition to the potential tax credits, Sanyo will get discounted land, road improvements worth $1 million, worker training, a Marion County grant for equipment and a five-year exemption on property taxes for its plant and machinery. The company can also apply for federal tax credits, which Congress appears poised to renew.

The city and the state got a great deal, said Ray Burstedt, president of Sedcor, an economic-development organization for Marion and Polk counties. Salem will break even on the property-tax exemption after the factory’s seventh year, he said, not even counting the economic boost of wages paid workers.

Incentives come with so-called clawback provisions that require companies to pay back subsidies if they fail to employ promised numbers of workers at higher-than-average wages for an agreed period.

“Every single grant, loan or incentive that is coming from us or the city, it all has clawback provisions,” said Nathan Buehler, spokesman for the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department. The agency led months of secret negotiations to land the Sanyo plant, code-named Project Ark.

Oregon has already attracted several solar manufacturers including Germany’s SolarWorld, which will open its Hillsboro factory next month. Sanyo ranks behind SolarWorld as the world’s eighth-largest solar-cell producer, according to Photon International magazine.

Sanyo managers predicted the 861,000-square-foot Salem plant will be able to produce material each year capable of generating 70 megawatts of power once it reaches full operation in April 2010.

Sanyo also makes ingots and wafers in Carson, Calif., shipping them to Japan, where solar cells are made. The company uses the cells to make solar modules, or panels, in Japan, Mexico and Hungary.

Salem officials expressed excitement about landing the plant during economic hard times.

“It’s pretty amazing, particularly as you read the headlines of the day,” City Councilor Chuck Bennett said, “that we’re looking at adding jobs and this kind of economic expansion.”

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Oregon Welcomes Yet Another Solar Maker, Sanyo
by Celeste LeCompte – earth2tech – September 24, 2008

Oregon’s Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC) has done it again: SANYO North America said today that it will build a new $80-million, 70MW solar manufacturing facility in Salem, Oregon. Construction is slated to begin next month and the plant is expected to open in October 2009, ramping up to full capacity by April 2010.

Talk about a successful tax incentive. The BETC, whose provisions offer renewable energy companies, among other things, tax credits for up to 50 percent of capital investments of as much as $20 million, helped attract three other solar manufacturers to the state in 2007. German SolarWorld kicked off the trend in March of that year, moving its production a matter of miles from Vancouver, Washington, to Hillsboro, Ore., to take advantage of the tax perks. SolarWorld was joined by Santa Clara, California-based Solaicx in June 2007 and by Carlsbad, California-based Peak Sun Silicon the following November.

SANYO says that while the BETC did play a role in its decision, the state’s reputation as hub for a diverse range of semiconductor companies was a factor as well. With a developed industry, the company can expect to find a suitable, and often already trained, workforce for its new plant. SANYO says its new facility will bring 200 new permanent jobs to the state when operating at full capacity.

Job growth is a key reason that the state has poured it’s support behind the BETC and its sister program, that Residential Energy Tax Credit. In a study of credits allocated in 2006, ECONorthwest found that over the next 15 years projects would create nearly 2,100 new jobs, boost economic output by $178 million and cut energy costs by $60 million.

Downtown Bend, the Old Mill District plus the retail business core of Juniper Ridge should have electric vehicle charging stations to help draw customers to their areas. Just like Lake Oswego.  “Mayor Judie Hammerstad expects more drivers from neighboring cities to visit Lake Oswego, plug in their vehicles to charge for free, and then hopefully drop their dollars shopping in nearby downtown businesses.”

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New age fill-up in Lake Oswego
by Yuxing Zheng, The Oregonian – September 22, 2008
[PHOTO HERE}
Portland General Electric unveiled four “filling stations of the future” today when it introduced its fleet of electric charging stations for plug-in vehicles.

Including one station introduced two months ago, the network of five stations in downtown Lake Oswego, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, and PGE’s Salem and Portland offices will accommodate about a dozen vehicles.

Lake Oswego, one of the first municipalities outside Portland to own a station, hopes to use it as a futuristic economic boost.

As more families buy electric vehicles and the number of area charging stations remains low, Mayor Judie Hammerstad expects more drivers from neighboring cities to visit Lake Oswego, plug in their vehicles to charge for free, and then hopefully drop their dollars shopping in nearby downtown businesses.

“Most of all, it’s setting the stage for other cities,” Hammerstad said. “If we can do it, you can do it. This is a big step forward in sustainability and reducing carbon emissions.”

The new stations also come as car manufacturers, eager to cater to a growing number of environmentally conscious customers, are expected to introduce new electric vehicles in coming years.

“Oregonians are on the leading edge of all things green, and we expect Oregon will be one of the top markets for plug-in vehicles,” said Bill Nicholson, a vice president at PGE.

There are about 270 all-electric passenger cars registered in Oregon, state transportation officials say. That pales in comparison to 26,338 registered hybrid vehicles. And even those account for less than 1 percent of the state’s 3.3 million passenger cars.

PGE partners with local organizations or cities to pay for the electricity. The charging station itself costs about $2,500 and the station owner pays for its installation.

The city of Lake Oswego, for instance, paid for the $5,000 installation fee of its station.

Drivers simply park their cars and plug in their vehicles the same way household appliances plug into wall sockets.

“This is just the beginning,” Hammerstad said.