In August, the seven main Oregon university campuses began the largest solar installation in the state and the largest multi-campus university solar project in the country.

The project will include solar arrays on the campuses of Eastern, Western and Southern Oregon universities, as well as the Oregon Institute of Technology, Portland State University, Oregon State University and the University of Oregon. And in a difficult economic time for the state, the project is not expected to cost the universities a dime.

Oregon State University-Cascades Campus is not included in the project, called Solar By Degrees. But Bob Simonton, the assistant vice chancellor for capital programs, said the Bend branch won’t be left out in his office’s efforts to shrink the state’s carbon footprint.

“We’ll get there,” Simonton said, pointing to a geothermal heating and cooling system that OSU-Cascades is installing. “It takes time to develop these projects when you don’t have a lot of money. … We’re trying to do good work fast, but we don’t have the funds.”

At OIT’s solar array groundbreaking in August, Gov. John Kitzhaber said the project showed Oregon’s commitment to addressing climate change.

“When OIT’s solar grid is combined with the geothermal power that’s already used, this campus will be the first in the nation to be 100 percent renewable and ‘off the grid’ for electrical generation,” he told those present.

That’s similar to what OSU’s Corvallis campus hopes to do, according to Brandon Trailstead, the campus sustainability coordinator.

“We have a goal of being carbon neutral in 2025, which is a very aggressive goal,” he said. “We did a climate planning process and we actually surveyed on campus and when we put out the 2025 goal, much to our surprise they said if anything 2025 is not soon enough.”

To get there, Trailstead and his colleagues have begun to design a variety of large-scale projects, the most significant involving the installation of solar panels. Trailstead worked with Simonton, who has been trying for six years to bring solar energy to the college campuses.

To finance the renewable push, the university system came up with the idea of a public-private partnership.

Several years ago, Simonton secured Business Energy Tax Credits, or BETCs, from the Oregon Department of Energy to encourage private vendors to participate in the statewide campus solar project. BETCs provide generous tax breaks and incentives to promote investment in renewable energy projects.

As a public entity, the Oregon University System does not pay taxes and, therefore, cannot take advantage of tax credits directly. But Simonton hoped to arrange a public-private partnership allowing the OUS to take advantage of a so-called “pass through” option. In essence, this allows people and businesses that do owe taxes to buy credits from public entities like the OUS.

Then the economy foundered. Simonton spent 14 months searching for an investment partner to use the OUS tax credits. Eventually he found the Utah-based Renewable Energy Development Corporation, and the Solar By Degrees project was born. Renewable Energy Development Corporation will recruit investors to pay to build and maintain the solar arrays over a 25-year period.

The project’s total cost is estimated at about $26.4 million, according to Diana Enright of the Oregon Department of Energy. She said no tax credits will be issued until the projects are completed, reviewed and certified, but said the BETC incentives would be worth 36.82 percent of the total project cost. With the estimated cost of the project, that means the credits could be worth about $9.7 million.

To Simonton, the best part is the cost to universities: nothing.

“We have no capital outlay at all. We’re simply allowing them to host the panels on our campuses and then in return we’re buying power, whatever’s generated from the arrays, for less than non-renewable power in the state,” he said.

In its first phase the project will install 27 acres of solar panels at OIT, OSU and EOU. That phase is expected to generate five megawatts of power, and the panels will be ground-mounted. OSU’s will be mounted on agricultural space on campus, including one area that will continue to be used by grazing sheep. The second phase of the project will take place on the other four campuses and may include some roof-mounted arrays.

The projects must begin by the end of 2011 to take advantage of sunsetting federal incentives that are ending and to use the BETC program, which has undergone significant changes.

Because Simonton secured the credits several years ago, the state will still honor BETCs for the statewide university solar project. Still, there is urgency to getting the projects moving.

“So the projects do have to be under way by the end of the year so the investors don’t lose the tax credits,” Simonton said. “They’re working full force to make sure they’re all started by the end of the year.”

Initially, Simonton worried the BETC tax breaks would offset any cost savings for the universities, since much of the state’s tax funds go to education, so he and the Oregon Department of Energy plan to conduct a study. He believes that because the project will provide funding to Oregon manufacturing companies and Oregon employees who work at prevailing wages to install and maintain the solar arrays, any tax breaks will be balanced by the revenue the project creates.

“We’re going to do a study as the developer spends money to track where it all goes,” he said. “I’m pretty confident it will (balance out).”

Hillsboro’s SolarWorld has a contract to provide the solar panels, and Bend’s PV Powered will provide the solar inverters. Oregon Electric will serve as lead contractor. The Oregon University System estimates it will save about $6.6 million over 25 years, which is money that would have been spent on utility bills.

“If there’s a way … to reduce our carbon footprint at a lower cost to us, then it’s a win-win,” Simonton said. “And we’ve been able to figure that out.”