State officials and Portland General Electric management on Thursday christened a stretch of highway outside Tualatin as the nation’s first “solar highway.”

During an overcast morning press conference, Governor Ted Kulongoski, flanked by PGE President Peggy Fowler, symbolically broke ground on the public-private project, which will become an 8,000-square-foot expanse of 594 roadside solar panels, by lifting the very first of the panels into place.

The panels will be used to power highway lights at night, along a stretch of the Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 interchange, and are expected to generate about 112,000 kilowatt- hours annually.

Still, it takes 45 million kilowatt-hours of electricity to generate enough power to run the entire Oregon Department of Transportation system – including lights, signals, ramp metering and other things.

“This project simply represents a step forward toward a vision of an energy independent Oregon,” Kulongoski said. “We didn’t get here out of luck; we got here from partnerships.”

Though initiated by ODOT, the project is being spearheaded by private firms, including project partners PGE and U.S. Bank. The manufacturing and installation work, too, will be performed by private local companies.

The solar panels will be manufactured at Solar World AG’s Hillsboro factory, the inverter will be supplied by Bend’s PV Powered, Inc., and a consortium of four contractors under the name SolarWay will work on the installation. The consortium includes Aadland Evans Constructors, the Moyano Leadership Group, Advanced Energy Systems and the Good Company.

The work is expected to start in September and finish by the end of the year, said Aadland Evans Constructors President Ted Aadland.

The “solar highway” sowed its seed more than a year ago and took shape in February, when the Oregon Transportation Commission directed ODOT’s Office of Innovative Partnership to move forward with the roadside solar program.

Then in July, following the commission’s directive, Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden announced that $1 million had been earmarked for the expansion of the project in the future. That money would come via a Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Committee bill, which is on its way to the Senate floor for approval.

“The million dollars would feed the expansion of the project throughout the state with research, development, testing, evaluation and construction,” said Mary Conley, a spokeswoman for Wyden’s office.

The project also comes after the 2007 legislative session, during which Kulongoski pushed forward his own legislation, including the Renewable Portfolio Standard, which requires that 25 percent of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2025, and the Business Energy Tax Credit.

Kulongoski has also directed state agencies, such as ODOT, to seek a 100-percent renewable energy standard for their operations.

In the coming months, ODOT will issue a request for proposal to duplicate the project at other locations within PGE’s service area, said James Whitty, manager of ODOT’s Office of Innovative Partnerships and Alternative Funding.

According to Whitty, the goal is to “create a solar highway for the entire state.” He admits this won’t be an easy task and will require some assistance from the state’s other utility companies.

The state owns more than 16,000 miles of right-of-way land adjacent to highways, which Whitty believes are ready for solar-energy development.