Kaiser Permenante's Westside Medical Center in Hillsboro, Oregon, will be home to high-performance solar panels from SolarWorld, which will highlight the low-emissions transportation benefit of in-market solar production.
SolarWorld's facility is located about 3 miles away from the healthcare center, which shows Kaiser's dedication to supporting the local solar energy market.
The addition of the SolarWorld solar panels positions Kaiser's Hillsboro facility to earn gold certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, which underscores the energy sustainability of the facility.
"We're proud of all the sustainable design features of the new hospital, which will be the first LEED Gold-certified healthcare 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."
According to Recurrent Energy, Kaiser Permenante has 15 sites in northern and southern California that are using renewable energy sources that are built, owned and operated by the energy company.