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The Oregon University System today broke ground on a huge solar project, slated to be the state’s largest.

The first phase of the project will include ground-mounted solar arrays at the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, Eastern Oregon University and Oregon State University. All told, the panels will cover 27 acres and generate nearly 5 megawatts of power.

The project, called 鈥淪olar by Degrees,鈥� begins at OIT, which established the first renewable energy engineering degree in the country in 2005. The solar energy, combined with that from a new geothermal power plant that comes online in 2012, will be able to cover all of OIT’s electricity and heating needs.

The second phase of the project will spread solar to the other four campuses in the OUS system 鈥� Portland State University, Southern Oregon University, University of Oregon and Western Oregon University. Expected in 2012, the second round of installations will probably be rooftop arrays.

Part of the project’s focus is to make use of local solar companies: Portland-based Oregon Electric is the lead contractor for the project; the solar inverters are from PV Powered of Bend; and the solar panels are from SolarWorld‘s U.S. headquarters in Hillsboro.

SolarWorld, an international solar company based in Germany, also announced today that its panels will power a 2-megawatt project on property owned and operated by the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara, which may be the largest affordable housing solar project in the U.S.