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Tuesday marked the start of a four-week TriMet project that will end in a wall of solar panel modules to power the MAX Green Line. The construction is taking place at Southwest Jackson Street, where the South Terminus is located and near the site of Portland State University’s forthcoming College Station.

This marks TriMet’s first effort to harness energy from the sun in powering the county-spanning rail system, and according to the , the agency anticipates savings of $3,680 per year once the 253 modules are installed. The project is budgeted at $370,600, with the money coming form leftover Green Line funds and contributions from Portland General Electric and the Energy Trust of Oregon.

Whoa, whoa…back the truck up. It has been some time since first-grade math, but let’s see here … carry the zero … yup, that works out to about 100 years of savings (assuming $3,680 is the total savings amount every year for the full century) to recoup the initial investment of $370K. That length of time about halves with energy tax credits, but this is still taking “long-term investment” a bit far.

According to U.S. News and World Report, Portland is among the. Bringing solar energy into the mix is a game changer, to be sure, especially as PDX residents turn more to bus, light-rail and streetcar use instead of driving. Bear in mind, however, that this sort of expenditure runs parallel with the and a .

There are additional low-energy-use plans for the South Terminus, according to the press release, though it is unclear what financial impact those will have (they focus on lighting and storm water management). One can only hope there are additional plans to justify the costs of the solar panels and that riders experience that justification.

Or, to state it simply, let’s hope the sun makes the fares go down.