Bend experts demonstrate solar research
By Tim Doran / The Bulletin
Published: September 22. 2011 4:00AM PST
PORTLAND — While the number of businesses and homeowners installing solar electrical systems continues to
increase, their contribution to the nation's power needs remains small.
But experts from Bend have been researching ways to better integrate solar energy collected by rooftop and
ground-based systems into the power grid for nearly three years, and this week they demonstrated their results
to government, electrical utility and private business representatives.
The work stemmed from an effort created by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2007 called Solar Energy Grid
Integration Systems, a competitive program that sought “revolutionary changes,” said Ward Bower, project
manager for Sandia National Lab, the agency managing the program.
Federal energy officials wanted research that would potentially lead to commercial products and help solar power
gain acceptance by utilities, which viewed it as a nuisance.
The challenge “fired up” employees at PV Powered, a then 4-year-old Bend solar-electric inverter maker, said
Steven Hummel, vice president of engineering for Advanced Energy Industries, which bought PV Powered last
year.
“We (wanted) to make a difference in the industry,” he told industry representatives Tuesday, “not just do more
government work.”
Out of more than two dozen companies and organizations that applied, the Energy Department selected PV
Powered and 11 others for stage 1 in 2008.
A year later, the PV Powered-led team became one of five picked to continue the effort, which required the
companies to share costs.
And last year, the team — which included Portland General Electric, Northern Plains Power Technologies, of
South Dakota, and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, of Pullman, Wash., — was awarded an additional $2.4
million, one of four teams to make it to stage 3.
Its research focused, in part, on how to get solar power — which can fluctuate depending on cloud cover — onto
a grid created to handle electricity fueled by the constant burning of natural gas or coal at a central power plant.
The solar integration program has helped shine the national spotlight on the Bend company that received a visit
from then-presidential candidate Barack Obama in May 2008 and a shout-out from the newly elected president
during a White House speech on renewable energy in March 2009.
It brought together government agencies, utilities and private companies to take on problems that no one
company could solve on its own, said Gregg Patterson, president of Advanced Energy's Bend-based solar
business unit.
The research will continue in Bend, too. Earlier this month, the Energy Department awarded Advanced Energy
$3.1 million to keep going.
On Tuesday, Advanced Energy demonstrated the results obtained so far, taking many of the 75 or so participants to a warehouse filled with solar panels east of Portland International Airport. From a trailer-turned-mobile lab in the parking lot, Michael Mills-Price, program manager and technical lead for Advanced Energy, explained the research, using gauges displayed on two large-screen TVs on the side of the trailer.
Results of the ongoing research stands in contrast to the heat the Energy Department and the Obama administration have been taking over the recent failure of Solyandra, a California solar panel maker that filed bankruptcy last month seeking reorganization — about two years after receiving a $535 million government-backed loan.
Fallout from Solyndra's bankruptcy, which forced the layoff of 1,100 employees, has prompted a renewed focus on diligence at the Energy Department, said Kevin Lynn, lead for the Systems Integration program of the Energy Department's Solar Technologies Program.
But Tuesday's conference showcased accomplishments.
“Very rarely do we look at the conclusion of some of the programs we do,” he said.
Tim Doran can be reached at 541-383-0360 or at tdoran@bendbulletin.com.
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