A Southeast Portland retirement center expects to cut its yearly electric bill by as much as 25 percent because of a solar panel system installed in December.

Officials at

estimate the $500,000 system -- the largest of it's kind in Portland -- will save them as much as $15,500 a year in costs.

"We looked at this a couple years ago," said Chip Gabriel, company president. "We decided to do it to get ahead of where we think energy rates are going."

The community is located on a 12-acre campus located next to the Adventist Medical Center and Mall 205 Shopping Center. Gabriel said the center provides 320 units of retirement and assisted living housing for moderate-income seniors.

"These savings means we won't have to raise rents for our residents," Gabriel said.

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