Umatilla Electric Cooperative has energized the Moyer-Tolles Solar Station, a 1.3-megawatt (DC) solar generating project. The system is capable of supplying the equivalent of 112 all-electric homes.
The system is located on state Highway 730 near the eastern edge of the city of Umatilla, on 6.5 acres of land that UEC purchased from the Port of Umatilla. The system includes 3,952 photovoltaic panels generating up to 320 watts DC, which if laid end-to-end would stretch nearly five miles.
The system – UEC’s first utility-scale generation plant – is expected to produce an average of 1.6 million kilowatt hours annually. The levelized cost of the energy produced is estimated at 7.8 cents per kilowatt-hour, based on a 30-year life.
With Christenson Electric providing design, procurement and construction, UEC installed the $2.5-million system to help meet future requirements from Oregon’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) and accommodate growing member interest in solar.
“It’s a step toward having UEC member-owned resources that will eventually satisfy the RPS obligation,” UEC Finance Manager Kevin Ince said. “Ultimately, 25 percent of the energy we provide to our members will have to come from renewable energy.”
If UEC was obligated to meet that standard today, 45 average megawatts of renewable energy would be required to support UEC’s total electrical sales of 180 average megawatts.
Over the next dozen years UEC will continue to seek out sources of “new” renewables such as wind or solar to provide a portion of its power supply, Ince said. That may include partnering with others to build new resources, or entering into power purchasing agreements, he said.
The system is named in honor of two UEC employees who died in a 1971 car accident returning from a data processing orientation, Fonnie Moyer and Bill Tolles.
