(Renewable Energy) Oregon Solar Plants Power Up, Utilities Prepare to Power Them - New York Times

Semiconductor manufacturing is an energy intensive business; such facilities can require 20 to 70 MW of power load, according to Tom Guantt, a spokesman for Pacific Power. Pacific Power's service territory includes just one of the announced solar manufacturing plants in Oregon — the Peak Sun facility in Millersburg — while Portland General Electric (PGE) is responsible for servicing the other new developments, including the SolarWorld and Sanyo facilities, as well as the Solaicx , XsunX and Spectrawatt factories. Because solar manufacturing plays a small role in the state's growing power demand, it's likely that utilities' progress toward meeting the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard (which requires 25 percent of electric demand to come from new renewables) will be more than sufficient to cover the additional demand. Sanyo's plant, slated to open in October 2009, makes it the first company to sign on to the City of Salem's Renewable Energy and Technology Park (RETP), an 80-acre parcel of land zoned for industrial uses that had been undeveloped since the city acquired the rights in 1992. read more

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