By this summer, Bend’s downtown parking garage will be powered — at least in part — by the sun.

After a more than two-year delay, the city is moving forward with plans to install solar panels on the roof of the garage and expects to begin construction within the next two months. Once they go up, the panels are expected to generate 200 kilowatts of electricity, which will help the city cut energy costs and provide about 50 percent of the power the garage needs to operate.

Downtown Manager Jeff Datwyler said the city started talking about a solar project in 2006, when it agreed to partner with SunEnergy Power Corp., a Bend company that planned to install the solar panels. The following year, the city received a $400,000 grant from Pacific Power and moved forward with design plans for the project.

But plans stalled after SunEnergy struggled to come up with financing, and PacifiCorp, the parent company of Pacific Power, challenged public-private energy partnerships like the one between Bend and SunEnergy. Around the state, cities and other public entities have teamed with private companies, which can benefit from tax credits aimed at encouraging renewable energy projects.

Public entities don’t pay taxes, so they can’t receive federal or state tax credits.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission gave its OK to projects like Bend’s, but the economic downturn further delayed it. At one point, city officials thought they might have to return the grant money, but last year, they decided to push ahead with their plans.

“We were always holding out hope that we were going to be able to keep it alive, but there was a period because of the combination of factors and the economy and the lending environment, we were skeptical that we were going to be able to still pull it off,” Datwyler said. “But it’s looking pretty good.”

The city put out a request for proposals, and this week, a committee selected a new company to install the panels: Advanced Energy Systems, based in Eugene. Datwyler said the full project is expected to cost between $1.6 million and $1.9 million, but the city won’t have to contribute anything outside of the $400,000 in grant money. Advanced Energy Systems, which will benefit from the tax credits, will pick up the rest of the cost of the work.

About 850 photovoltaic panels will be installed on the roof of the garage, set at an angle to capture the greatest amount of sunlight. Datwyler said the panels won’t take up any space that is currently available for parking.

“We’ll basically build a trellis that will span three-quarters of that top deck, and between the structural support and the panels that are installed, will provide some level of shading of vehicles,” he said.

Brad Emerson, the city’s special projects manager, said the solar array is one of several ongoing plans aimed at making Bend more energy efficient.

Last year, the city learned it would receive $745,000 in stimulus funding through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program.

That money is set to be used to offset permit fees for certified green building projects, and for weatherization and energy-efficiency upgrades to city facilities, among other efforts. In addition, the city is planning to do an energy audit to figure out where else it can cut back.

“Right now, our focus is on energy efficiency and the Conservation Block Grant, and kind of the cornerstone of that is an energy audit we’re doing of all of our principal energy users here,” Emerson said. “Results of that audit will help us prioritize and determine which projects to do first.”

Diana Enright, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Energy, said her department often advises cities about renewable energy projects, and has seen more and more projects pop up around the state.

“We’re always looking first at where you can save energy and then looking at renewable energy,” she said.

Datwyler said officials hope the parking garage project will be completed by late summer or early fall.