Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 3:45pm PST | Modified: July 23, 2010, 11:25 AM

Gresham turns on Pacific Northwest's largest ground mount solar system

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The City of Gresham flipped the switch Tuesday on what is, at 419 kilowatts of production capacity, believed to be the largest ground mount solar power plant in the Pacific Northwest.

Ground mount solar panels are easier to install that roof-top arrays and aren't often seen in urban areas because of the space they take up. But Gresham officials decided to take advantage of the land at their wastewater treatment facility on N.E. Sandy Blvd. by installing enough panels to generate 460,000 kilowatt hours of energy — enough to power 43 homes for one year.

This is the first solar power plant of this scale for Gresham. The solar array system is made available with no upfront cost from the taxpayers. SunEdison, a solar energy services provider, owns, operates and maintains the array and the city purchases the energy produced.

The system was constructed through a partnership with SunEdison, REC Solar and incentives provided by the Energy Trust of Oregon. San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based REC Solar designed and installed the system.