Oregon State University
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

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OSU has a total of 2.91 megawatts of photovoltaic equipment, mostly at five large ground mounted solar sites throughout the state. Building mounted solar includes the Student Experience Center at 48kW, Hatfield Marine Science Center pole mounted 1.1 kilowatt array, and Kelley Engineering Center roof mounted 2.4 kilowatt array. The portable system on the OSU Solar Trailer has an 1800 watt solar array with nine Sanyo 200 watt solar modules, a 25 kilowatt hour battery pack and peak inverter output of 7.2kW. https://www.facebook.com/OSUSolarTrailer/

Since 2013, the five large grid-tied, ground-mounted arrays have been installed on agricultural lands operated by Oregon State University as part of “Solar by Degrees,” a large-scale photovoltaic power program coordinated by the Oregon University System. OSU was the first to install and have operational solar arrays. See the OSU press release: https://today.oregonstate.edu/archives/2012/dec/osu-planting-seeds-%E2%80%9Csolar-farm%E2%80%9D-campus-part-ous-program

The five arrays cover more than twelve acres combined. Three are in Corvallis, and two are at OSU properties elsewhere in the state. The 35th Street site is the largest, at around six acres and 1,435 kilowatts. It can be found west of the Corvallis campus on the Campus Way bike path. The 53rd Street site is 289 kilowatts and is located adjacent to the bike path just east of the Benton County Fairgrounds. The Salmon Disease Lab site, with a capacity of 482 kilowatts, is located adjacent to Trysting Tree golf course just east of the Willamette River, off the main campus.

The two locations outside Corvallis are in Aurora, Oregon and Hermiston, Oregon. In Aurora is the North Willamette Research and Extension Center (NWREC) farm across from Charbonneau Village on Miley Road. The Hermiston Agricultural Research & Extension Center houses OSU's only Eastern Oregon solar location to date. All five sites were developed in partnership with the College of Agricultural Sciences, to which the property is assigned.

An evacuated tube solar hot water system on the Kelley Engineering Center preheats domestic water, supplying approximately 50% of the building's domestic water heating needs. The International Living and Learning Center also has a flat plate collector solar hot water system which is estimated to be able to provide 6,625 gallons of domestic hot water per day, which averages over 50% of the annual hot water use for this building.

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OSU purchases Green-e certified RECs from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation. BEF has been recognized by EPA for excellence in the renewable energy market. FY21 RECs were purchased from the Armadillo Flats Wind Project, located in Enid, OK. It is an energy plant that converts energy into bulk electrical power. The Power Plant distributes electrical power to the Garfield County area electrical grid, which delivers it to electricity consumers.

9.84 % of the Pacific Power grid mix comes from unspecified sources.

OSU has a co-generation plant that provides steam heat to the campus from natural gas electricity production and steam waste heat with additional steam production to meet the campus heating load.