Portland's New Renewables Leadership Showcased at Historic Montgomery Park Install

An analyst’s job is to look at trends, events, movers and shakers, and data that sometimes all collide into one amazing story. One such alignment occurred on April 14, 2017 at the ribbon cutting of Imagine Energy’s 1 MW rooftop solar PV installation at the Montgomery Park building in Northwest Portland. The layers speak for themselves:

• Solar Install: 1 MW is the third-largest solar PV installation in Portland, and it will cover 20%-25% of the all-electric historic building’s energy needs. The press release speaks for itself, “After four Historic Reviews, six crane lifts with the largest mobile crane in Oregon, the harshest winter in 40 years, detailed engineering reviews, and a 300-ton crane mobilization to set 150' solar trusses, the 1 MW solar project at Montgomery Park is complete.” The installation included four EV charging stations, as well.
• 100 ENERGY STAR Rating for 100 Anniversary: The solar PV installation sits atop the roof of the Montgomery Park building, and there are also three additional structures on Portland’s second-largest office building. Montgomery Park is working toward a perfect ENERGY STAR building efficiency rating of 100 by its 100 anniversary in 2020. Despite its age, Montgomery Park is the fifth most efficient building in Portland, and a score of 100 would make it No. 1!
• History: Montgomery Park’s owner, Bill Naito, has an amazing personal history. A Japanese American who moved to Utah in high school to avoid internment during World War II, Naito went on to become one of the most prominent developers and civic leaders in Portland’s history. Imagine Energy’s founder, Jonathan Cohen, and his wife, Jessie, are two of the cities’ most active entrepreneurs and owners of other businesses in Portland.
• 100% Renewable Energy Target: The newly elected mayor of Portland, Ted Wheeler, recently announced that Portland and Multnomah County would target 100% renewable energy for city operations by 2035—joining 25 other US cities in taking the pledge—building upon the city’s climate action plan.
• Top Solar Drone Video: Guidehouse Insights has covered the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for wind power inspection and for transmission and distribution monitoring. As cool as those are, nothing beats a sweet solar PV installation promo video—and Imagine Energy’s is the best I’ve seen.

While today’s solar market is led by a shrinking number of mega companies, the solar shakeout has created opportunities for small and medium companies to carve out their niche—and work on creative, challenging projects that larger companies might overlook such as the Montgomery Park project.