Oregon Kaiser Permanente Facility to Go Solar


HILLSBORO, Ore. — As part of its effort to secure LEED Gold certification, Kaiser Permanente will install high performance solar panels at its Westside Medical Center branch, currently under construction.

The panels will come from the U.S. headquarters of Bonn, Germany-based SolarWorld, located three miles away from the new facility, highlighting the “low-emission transportation benefit of in-market solar production, officials from the SolarWorld said.

The medical center, which is slated for completion in 2013, will be the first hospital completed in the Portland area in nearly 40 years.

The facility will host a 102-kilowatt solar system made up of 468 solar panels installed on its parking garage.

Additional sustainability features at the hospital will include environmentally friendly carpet and paint, non-toxic construction materials, and a water conservation system designed to save two million gallons of water each year.

"We’re proud of all the sustainable design features of the new hospital, which will be the first LEED Gold-certified health care facility in the Portland area," said Andrew McCulloch, president of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan of the Northwest. "We’ve made this a local project whenever possible, and using an industry-leading supplier like SolarWorld, located just down the street, was the obvious choice.”

To ring in the solar installation and “underscore the sustainable virtues of local sourcing,” officials and employees of Solar World and Kaiser Permanente accompanied the solar panel delivery from the SolarWorld factory to the hospital on a morning bike ride.

More than 30 other representatives from both companies, plus employees from the hospital’s general contractor, Andersen Construction, participated in the bike ridem which followed two large-load bike trailers and a SolarWorld electric-powered pick-up truck carrying solar panels.

"Buying locally makes sense economically and environmentally," said Gordon Brinser, president of SolarWorld Industries Americas. “And whether your customer is three miles away or 3,000 miles across the country, buying from U.S. manufacturers keeps jobs in America and our carbon footprint low."