As of October 20th, the Oregon Solar Highway project was in high gear. Favorable weather has allowed the post installation to move at a rapid pace. Racking assembly has begun as the preliminary electrical infrastructure is back filled. The image below shows the state of construction on October 18th, 2011. Current electrical work is being performed by Christensen Electric of Portland, Oregon. Specialized pile driving equipment from Sunstall is being used to drive the Sigma posts in and install the Haticon racking system which will support the installation of nearly 7,000 SolarWorld 250 watt modules. Installation of the PV Powered 260kW inverters is also in progress. Project commissioning is slated for January 2012.
The project is being build on land owned by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and is owned by Portland General Electric (PGE). General contract or is Adland Evans Constructors of Portland, with the complete design and solar scope being coordinated by Advanced Energy Systems, LLC., of Eugene.