Seven years after reopening, landmark building gets connected to the sun

By Dieter Loibner

Ever since the restored Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center (aka Ecotrust building) in the Pearl reopened to the public in 2001, it’s been synonymous for Portland’s emergence as eco-capital USA. And why not? Energy efficient and eco-friendly, built from recycled materials, equipped with bike racks, bioswales and an eco-roof, this 1895-warehouse set standards for green building design in the 21st century.

However, among all the progressive features one was conspicuously absent: Renewable energy generation on site. Well, no more. Now the storied building on NW 9th and Johnson produces its own electric power from clean, quiet and abundant sunlight through a sizeable photovoltaic system that is taking up all the roof space as if to put an exclamation mark behind the building’s sustainability message.

“The building has been a symbol for sound ecology and profitable economy and this [project] fits right in,” says Adam Lane, Chief Financial and Operating Officer of the Ecotrust. “It’s a tangible on-the-ground example for what we believe in, so this is intended to send a positive signal.”

As a nonprofit, Ecotrust is not eligible for the tax incentives, Lane explains, unlike the investor, Walsh Construction Co., which is the same contractor that handled the building’s original renovation. The PV system cost approximately $ 370,000 including finance charges and was jointly funded by Walsh and Ecotrust. Under this arrangement, Walsh ponied up 95 percent and gets the lion share of the benefits. After five and a half years, ownership flips and Ecotrust can buy out the remainder of the shares at fair market value.

“There are multiple benefits to us,” explains John Wied, Walsh’s CFO, citing the Federal Investment Tax Credit, accelerated depreciation of the unit, the Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC) and the incentives from the Energy Trust. “The return of most of our investment happens in the first 12 months, and the rest in the following five years.” Wied says that a commitment to sustainability and the association with the Ecotrust project motivated Walsh Construction Co. to install a 29-kW PV system on the roof of their office building on First Avenue in downtown Portland.

The financing of Ecotrust’s system was patterned after a flip model for wind power in Minnesota by Steven McGrath, president of Sustainable Solutions LLC, the general contractor that installed the PV system with assistance from Stoner Electric Group. The planning was done by Commercial Solar Ventures, another Portland firm. McGrath, who previously worked for the Foods and Farms program at Ecotrust, was happy to see this project through, calling it the “missing piece for this building that is the nexus of the sustainability movement in Portland.”

The 36.75-kilowatt system consists of 210 175-watt panels made by SolarWorld, a German company that operates a manufacturing plant in Hillsboro, Ore., and a 30-kW inverter by PV Powered, a company in Bend, Ore. The panels are angled at 15 degrees and were installed on the building’s flat upper roof, except 40 of them, which were mounted above and below the south-facing windows on the third floor. They do double duty in a passive solar sense, either as awnings or as shade for the plants on the building’s eco roof.

It’s not Portland’s biggest and badest photovoltaic system. For example, Powell’s Bookstore with 100 kW and the Portland Habilitation Center with 850 kW, have much more silicon on top. But it turns sunlight into enough clean electrons to cover approximately 10 percent of the electricity needs of a building that has an interior space of 70,000 square feet and 19 tenants, including two restaurants.

And when the place is closed during a sunny weekend, the PV system feeds electricity to the grid, making the meter run backwards. Not a bad deal for a place that was built nearly 115 years ago.

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Customer:
Ecotrust
Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center
721 NW 9th Avenue
Portland, OR 97209
(503) 227-6225
www.ecotrust.org

Investor:
Walsh Construction Co.
(503) 222-4375
www.walshconstructionco.com

Contractors:
Commercial Solar Ventures
(503) 241-5918
www.c-s-v.com

Stoner Electric Group
(503) 462-6500
www.stonergroup.com

Sustainable Solutions Unlimited, LLC
(503) 227-2047
www.solutions21st.com

Suppliers:
PV Powered
(541) 312-3832
www.pvpowered.com

SolarWorld
(503) 844 3400
www.solarworld-usa.com