Investing In Oregon’s Solar Future

Two of Oregon’s largest universities are sharing a $1.34 million investment in solar energy research.

OSU and UO say they’ll use the money to support research into improving solar cell manufacturing, discovering new solar technologies, and creating internships for graduate students at Oregon based solar companies.

Although the money comes from a variety of sources, it was put together by a relatively new agency called Oregon BEST.  Oregon BEST was created by the legislature in 2007 to develop partnerships between the green building and renewable energy industries with researchers at the state’s public universities.

Earlier this year, Oregon BEST put together a $1.6 million dollar package for green building research at PSU and OSU.