By Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The Oregon Public Utility Commission is expected to approve new rates for Portland General Electric customers that drastically increases the cost of electricity for data centers and reduces it for all other customers.

PGE on June 3 filed a rate case that would increase costs for data centers by 29 percent while reducing residential rates by 1.3 percent. The PUC delayed a decision on those rate changes until its July 7 meeting.

Oregon’s 2025 law, known as the POWER Act, was the first of its kind in the nation and separated data centers from all other classifications of customers.

“The PUC’s actions will represent an important milestone in carrying out the intent of the POWER Act, creating a more equitable system where the customers driving the greatest demand on our electric grid pay the costs associated with that demand,” Gov. Tina Kotek held a press conference in East Salem on July 2.

There are 125 data centers in Oregon, according to datacentermap.com, with a dozen more in the planning stages.

Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board Executive Director Bob Jenks said data centers use 5.6 percent of the electricity in Oregon and expects that to rise significantly in the coming years.

“By all indications, we’re expecting a significant shift in costs from non-data center customers onto data centers in the commission order that’s coming out,” Jenks said.

Jenks said he expects other benefits for residential customers to come from the law in future years.

Legislature separates data centers into their own class in 2025

separated data centers from other types of customers, including residential, and mandated 10-year contracts between the investor-owned utilities and data centers for rates.

The law was designed to ensure data centers would pay their fair share for the infrastructure and energy costs and not pass them off to residential customers.

Jenks said he expects some of the companies that own data center or representatives of them to appeal some of the POWER Act implementation.

“As they continue to grow and outpace the growth of any other customer class, we’ll see them absorbing more industrial costs and that puts less upward pressure on everyone else,” Jenks said.

Although the PGE rate-setting process is nearly complete, Pacific Power is still in the process of creating its rates in compliance with the law. Jenks said he doesn’t expect the other investor-owned utility, Idaho Power, to file a case as it is in the process of exchanging its Oregon territory.

The law also doesn’t cover municipal power providers and co-ops.

“We’re hoping that the electric co-ops in other parts of the state that also provide power, they have also been looking at their needs as well and some of them have tried to make sure the costs locally for the data centers are more fair for the rate payers,” Kotek said.

Kotek formed the Oregon Data Center Advisory Committee to come up with policy recommendations for data centers for the state Legislature to consider in the 2027 session.

“We will have some very specific actions coming out of the group by the fall that we will take into the next legislative session,” Kotek said. “The state will have a much more prominent role, making sure development of data center and other large users meets the needs of the entire state.”

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Ball Corporation, Timberlab, ATI and Gordon Truck Centers are pouring a combined $500 million, at least, to build manufacturing plants and other facilities in Millersburg.

That’s the kind of economic development any city would love. Large employers bring jobs and an expanded tax base, among other benefits.

In a city of 3,000-plus like Millersburg, slightly north of Albany, those numbers make a major impact.

While some governments get “caught up in red tape and rule books” that make development difficult, Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist said, Millersburg city leaders welcome businesses.

“How can we get to yes for you on this?” Nyquist said.

Millersburg’s low taxes, large tracts of developable land and easy access to Interstate 5 and rail service have made it popular for businesses. Few cities along Oregon’s predominant north-south freeway have experienced Millersburg’s level of industrial growth.

“What the difference is that attitude is from our council,” former City Manager Kevin Kreitman said. “I will tell you that historically Millersburg has always had a council that understands the value of the industrial base and protecting that industrial base and growing that base for the benefit of the community.”

Impetus for incorporation

The town was established as Millers Station in 1871, when a rail station was built for the Southern Pacific Railroad. It became a large shipping point for cattle in the 1880s and renamed Millersburg around 1900.

The U.S. Bureau of Mines established a facility to produce zirconium there in the 1940s. That plant was later sold to Wah Chang for production of metals including hafnium, tantalum and niobium. In the 1980s, it became a Superfund site; the environmental cleanup took 20 years.

In 1952, the Willamette Kraft Corporation built a paper mill to process wood chips into kraft paper. When it was owned by Weyerhaeuser, the plant was known for a smell reminiscent of rotting cabbage that greeted people driving by it on I-5.

“That was the smell of money, man,” Nyquist said.

Millersburg incorporated as a city in 1974, partially so businesses and residents could avoid being annexed into Albany and pay that city’s higher property taxes.

About a third of the city’s land was designated for residential development, which left lots of room for commercial growth.

A substantial hole to fill

The paper mill closed for good in 2009 and cost 270 workers their jobs. Three years later, the mill’s owner, then International Paper, tore it down.

At the time of its closure, the mill’s property tax bill was about $2.6 million annually — the most in Linn County.

“We lost a lot of jobs,” Millersburg Mayor Scott Cowan said. “And so that was a big impact, and then of course as that sort of was the immediate situation once that news got out was of course the financial impact to the city was by the franchise fees and taxes from the IP property. We felt that.”

The loss of that revenue was significant to the taxing districts — officials had to find ways to replace the revenue to pay for city services and road repairs, for example.

Millersburg didn’t levy property tax for its first 40 years because the city earned enough money from franchise fees to pay for basic city services. Now the city charges the maximum $3.50 per $1,000 of assessed value. Most of that goes to contracted fire and sheriff’s services.

The city tried to attract businesses to fill the gap left by International Paper.

In 2008, Peak Sun Silicon broke ground on a 10,000-square-foot building where it would employ 500 people to produce an ingredient in solar cells. The state foreclosed on the property when Peak Sun defaulted on a $14 million loan in 2012.

In 2019, the state gave Linn County $25 million to build an intermodal facility on a portion of the former International Paper property. That project cost $35 million, but operations never began.

Renewed interest in development

When Timberlab was looking to build a new facility to manufacture mass timber, the company considered multiple Willamette Valley locations, including Independence and Corvallis, President Chris Evans said.

Then Timberlab found a 33.5-acre site in Millersburg. The location had challenges. It had a fish bearing stream, needed an entry road and the main connecting road to Old Salem Highway was under construction.

Nevertheless, Timberlab purchased the land from the city and expects to complete its first building this year. That project will bring an estimated 100 jobs to Millersburg.

Gov. Tina Kotek, present when ground was broken in March 2025, said Oregon is “leading the way” in mass timber and pointed to the new roof at the Portland International Airport terminal.

“The city really facilitated taking a lot of the issues out of the sites here, so they could invite somebody into the community and have a quicker turnaround to have something rezoned from agricultural to industrial,” Evans said at the ground-breaking event.

That will include a 185,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. Timberlab has plans for 85,000-square-foot and 126,000-square-foot buildings in the future.

Companies that build in Millersburg reap the same tax rewards as its citizens.

Property owners in Millersburg pay a combined tax rate of 15.61 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, one of the lowest rates in the state for a city that offers the services that Millersburg does.

A company building a $100 million facility can save over $1 million per year on property taxes compared to other cities if it builds in Millersburg.

The money brought in from taxes and fees also means residents don’t have to worry about being barraged with bonds and levies from the city.

“But don’t worry,” city manager Janelle Booth said. “Our residents still complain about our taxes.”

Companies like Timberlab also get a tax break by building in enterprise zones — areas designated for large-scale industrial development by the state.

Enterprise zone projects must meet requirements including a minimum investment cost and employee count. Also, workers must be paid between 130 and 150 percent of the county’s average wage.

Businesses are exempt from paying property taxes on capital improvements for three to five years. In a rural enterprise zone, such as the one in Millersburg, businesses could be exempt from paying taxes on those improvements for up to 15 years.

In the meantime, the city will still benefit from the Timberlab development as it collects franchise fees from the company. Millersburg received nearly $1.2 million per year from Pacific Power last year, and that will go up with more power being used by Timberlab and Ball Corporation.

That money pays for basic city services like roads, parks and city administration.

“We’re looking at it for that long-term benefit, too,” Booth said.

The value of incentives

Millersburg has invested heavily in infrastructure that benefits residents and businesses. The city shares water filtration and wastewater treatment facilities with Albany.

Pacific Power owns and runs a regional operations center in the southern part of the city.

Millersburg city leaders convinced Pacific Power to build a new substation on Conser Road across the street from the Jefferson Fire Department station in 2024. That provides large industrial users with plenty of electricity for whatever they plan to build.

Several large parcels inside the city limits were zoned industrial and never developed. Over the years, Millersburg acquired several of those parcels for free or close to it.

To spur economic development, the city took an active approach in marketing the industrial properties.

The city updated its comprehensive plan in 2020, which essentially served as a sales brochure for prospective development.

“That’s an incentive that we can have with the industries to encourage them to come in,” Kreitman said. “We went through and we put together a presentation, and the state asked us to come and talk about it for other communities to look at. It’s really helped us.”

The city council opted to be selective in which companies it would sell properties to. For example, the city chose not to sell land for warehouses that employ few people.

“As the property owner, the price of the property is one of our tools to get what we want in here,” Booth said.

The city still owns about 70 acres of flat, undeveloped land that is zoned for industrial use.

Dormant site could be awakened

Cowan said Ball Corporation’s plans to build a plant helped spur much of the new economic development in the city.

“We heard about another company that was interested, but it was a lot of this loose interest and no one really serious until Ball came along,” Cowan said. “That really was a big one.”

Ball Corporation’s facility could be larger than 500,000 square feet when it’s finished, according to city planning documents, but will be smaller to start, Kreitman said.

It is unclear how many jobs the Ball facility will provide once it’s finished. The company did not respond to requests for comments.

Center Market is planning a new 5,200-square-foot building for its store and offices. Pure Energy is adding a 7,480-square-foot building.

Several businesses have announced plans for the former International Paper property.

Aymium, formerly known as National Carbon Technologies, in 2022 signed a 16-year lease for construction of a plant that uses carbon products to produce things like filters. Linn County approved a pause in that lease in 2025.

“And if they don’t go forward, we’ve got, guess what, flat land available at a reasonable price in close proximity to I-5 and rail,” Nyquist said.

In 2024, Omni Energy agreed to lease the site to transfer biodiesel from trains to trucks. That still hasn’t happened.

“It’s going to take some infrastructure investment,” Nyquist said. “The operators want to work out a longer-term lease to justify that investment, and so that’s what we’re working on today.”

Corvallis-based Samaritan Health Services owns a 2.3-acre plot in the north part of the city at the intersection of Old Salem Highway and the I-5 interchange. The nonprofit planned to build a regional medical center when it purchased the property for $1 million, according to city documents.

“While we do not have definitive plans for that property at this time, we do consider it a very important asset that can help us meet community health needs as Millersburg and surrounding areas continue to grow,” stated Larissa Balzer, Samaritan Health Services vice president of strategy and planning.

Hoping for a downtown and more

While Millersburg has a lot of industrial development, it lacks commercial businesses. Humpty’s Dump Bar & Grill and Oregon Barbecue Company are among the few commercial properties in town.

The Love’s Travel Stop that opened in 2018 near the North Millersburg exit is the city’s most recent commercial development.

The city owns about 8 acres along Old Salem Highway between the new fire station, which the city built for $5 million in 2023, and Center Market. The site is designated for commercial development.

Unlike many small Oregon cities, Millersburg doesn’t have a downtown.

“We’re hoping to create one,” Booth said.

The city also lacks affordable housing. The only houses for sale in Millersburg are listed for over $500,000. There are no apartments or multifamily housing.

“That is the constant feedback we hear from our community and our council and our planning commission, 10,000-square-foot lots is the hill to die on for our folks,” Booth said.

Significant housing growth occurred in the city until 2023, when construction advanced on the last parcel of developable land within city limits. City leaders say they can’t expand the urban growth boundary to the north or west because of the prime farmland in those areas.

The city is looking to expand east of I-5 at a long-hoped-for new interchange for more commercial and high-density residential growth.

Millersburg also owns land it intends to use for a YMCA building and a school, something the city hasn’t had since the last one closed in 1983.

“Last we knew, they are very interested in getting something in here,” Booth said.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in The Statesman Journal and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

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TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Vandalism at three power substations in western Washington early Sunday initially cut power to about 14,000 utility customers, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said.

The attacks come as federal officials are warning that the U.S. power grid needs better security to prevent domestic terrorism and after a large outage in North Carolina earlier this month that took days to repair.

In January, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report warned that domestic extremists have been developing “credible, specific plans” to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020.

Tacoma Public Utilities reported vandalism at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday at one substation, followed by vandalism at a second substation, the sheriff’s office said. The outages affected about 7,300 customers in an area southeast of Tacoma. Just before noon, the utility had restored power to all but 2,700 customers whose power was estimated to be restored at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

Meanwhile, just before noon, Puget Sound Energy reported vandalism that had happened at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday caused a power outage at one of its substations. The nearly 7,700 customers who lost power had it restored by 5 a.m., Puget Sound spokesperson Andrew Padula said. The company is investigating, along with authorities, and declined to comment further, Padula said.

In all three cases, the sheriff’s office says someone forced their way into the fenced area surrounding the substations and damaged equipment to cause a power outage.

Officials have not said how the substations were damaged. No suspects are in custody and officials don’t know if it was a coordinated attack.

Oregon Public Broadcasting and KUOW-FM in Seattle reported earlier this month that Portland General Electric, the Bonneville Power Administration, Cowlitz County Public Utility District and Puget Sound Energy confirmed six separate attacks on electrical substations in Washington and Oregon in the previous weeks.

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By SARA CLINE
Associated Press/Report for America

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s clean energy bill, which sets one of the most ambitious timelines in the country for moving to 100 percent clean electricity sources, was signed by Gov. Kate Brown on Tuesday.

The legislation lays out a timetable for the state’s two major power companies — Portland General Electric and Pacific Power — to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity sold to Oregon consumers. Additionally, it bans the expansion or new construction of power plants that burn fossil fuels and allocates $50 million in grants for community-based energy projects, among other measures.

“With these policies, we will create jobs in a 21st Century, clean energy economy,” Brown said. “We will reduce carbon emissions. And, we will make sure the economic, environmental and health benefits of our clean energy economy reach all Oregonians, especially those who have been disproportionately impacted by climate change and pollution.”

The bill requires Portland General Electric and Pacific Power to submit plans to reduce emissions by 80 percent from a baseline amount by 2030, 90 percent by 2035 and 100 percent by 2040.

Dave Robertson, vice president of Public Affairs at Portland General Electric, says the timeline is an “important step toward the clean energy future”.

“It provides a clear path for this critical transition while protecting the affordability and reliability of electricity, and it establishes greenhouse gas reduction targets that are in line with the climate goals we set for ourselves late last year,” Robertson said.

At least 17 other states and the District of Columbia have already adopted similar goals, according to the Clean Energy States Alliance.

But officials say Oregon’s timeline is the “strongest electricity emissions reduction timeline in the country”. The deadline is nearer than nearly every other state that has adopted a clean power plan, including Washington and California.

Oregon would measure its progress in an atypical way, too.

Most states have opted to ratchet down greenhouse gas emissions by requiring utilities to gradually increase the amount of power they get from renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Oregon, which has already had such a “renewable portfolio standard” since 2007, is taking a more straightforward approach: requiring Portland General Electric and Pacific Power to reduce their overall carbon emissions, which are tracked by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality.

“Already, we are seeing the devastating impacts of climate change, from more frequent drought to more severe wildfire seasons that put our homes and our families in jeopardy,” said Rep. Jason Kropf, a sponsor of the bill and a Bend Democrat. “This bill will put Oregon on a pathway for a more environmentally sound future and create economic opportunity and jobs for our working families.”

Environmental activists have called the bill’s passage a huge victory, especially as the state and country continue to see the worsening effects of climate change. But the bill, which passed in Oregon’s Senate 16-12 and in the House 35-20, has also been criticized.

“Hiking Oregonians’ energy costs during an economic recovery is one of the dumbest ideas I have ever heard of,” said Senate Republican Leader Fred Girod. “This bill just adds insult to injury to the countless Oregonians who have endured massive hardship over the last year and a half.”

Opponents of the bill say the policy will increase electric prices for Oregonians, cause business energy costs to skyrocket and put strain on the power grid — possibly leading to rolling blackouts.

“This bill accomplishes nothing for our environment,” Girod said. “It is simply a bill to virtue signal to extreme environmentalist groups that will cause Oregonians to pay more for less reliable energy.”

Whether or not the timeline is attainable is also uncertain.

“If you go out to 2030, we think we can hit that,” PacifiCorp Senior Vice President Scott Bolton told The Oregonian/Oregon Live last month. “We were pretty clear though, beyond that we don’t have a plan that shows we can get there.”

Likewise, Brett Sims, a vice president at Portland General Electric, told The Oregonian the company can meet the 2030 target by eliminating coal, operating its natural gas fired plants to serve peaks rather than base load demand, and adding substantial wind, solar, storage and demand reduction strategies to its resource mix. However, the 2040 target, he said, remains aspirational.

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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Pacific Power finished restoring power following powerful ice storms on Sunday and now some of its crews plan to help Portland General Electric, which still has about 4,000 customers waiting for power, the company said Wednesday.

Pacific Power predominantly serves the southern part of Oregon, but also serves cities such as Corvallis, Lincoln City, Bend and Astoria. At times, more than 80,000 Pacific customers were without power, KOIN-TV reported. The company had more than 400 field personnel working 24/7 through ice and snow to restore power as quickly as possible.

“Crews and contractors were all hands-on deck for this monumental restoration effort,” company officials said. “A special thanks goes out to the crews that came to assist us from Rocky Mountain Power within our PacifiCorp family and from MidAmerican Energy and NV Energy in our extended Berkshire Hathaway Energy family. And a heartfelt thank you and deep gratitude to our customers affected by this storm. They showed tremendous patience and generosity during a very trying time.”

PGE said on Tuesday it could be another week before all power is restored and that crews from multiple states had been helping out. Nearly half of PGE’s customers, more than 420,000, were impacted by outages during the storms, PGE President Maria Pope said.

Crews are in the last phases of work that generally only restores power to about 10 customers at a time, she said previously.

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The Roseway Theater in Northeast Portland is now 90 years old. But its future got a big boost several years ago when a complete renovation took place. Seating was reduced from slightly more than 500 to 330 to increase leg room, and a sound system equivalent with those in modern theaters was installed.

“Completely renovating this place eight years ago was when it came back to life,” said James Bonner, the Roseway’s manager. “It was pretty run-down at that point.”

Oregon has more than 100 historical theaters, and they have potential to be significant economic engines – like the Roseway is now – according to a new report by University of Oregon graduate students. However, financial and organizational challenges exist.

“The impetus for this study was really around economic and community development and the notion of theaters as community anchors and cultural centers,” said Bob Parker, Community Planning Workshop program director at the University of Oregon. “As we got further into it, we found out that there was no statewide inventory of these facilities. There were lots of anecdotes floating around about theaters failing and huge expenses around structural upgrades. It seemed like it was an appropriate time to dig into this and do some research and better understand the needs of the theaters.”

Travel Oregon provided a matching grant to help pay for an inventory, which was conducted between September 2014 and August 2015. Parker and five graduate students studied the theaters and looked into upgrades they need to be more profitable. Working on the report provided a valuable educational opportunity for the students, he said.

“It was really kind of cool because they get direct experience working with community partners and doing applied research, and they get to see the results of their efforts manifest over time,” he said.

The team identified four key challenges for historic theaters: tight finances, aging infrastructure, increased competition, and a lack of coordination among owners and operators for sharing opportunities.

Also, the survey found that 56 percent of Oregon’s historic theaters have not been seismically retrofitted, 57 percent do not have automatic fire protection and 46 percent are not fully ADA compliant. Thirty-six theaters responding to the survey reported a combined $20.8 million in deferred maintenance. Thirty-two percent of the theaters had not upgraded to fully digital projection, which is necessary to show first-run movies.

Despite the needs for improvement, the theaters surveyed collectively hosted 62,000 events and brought in $23 million in revenue.

The report made two recommendations. The first is that theaters undergo comprehensive structural assessments, preferably by an architect trained in historic preservation. The second is that a diverse coalition of nonprofit and state agencies create a statewide “historic theaters initiative” that offers funding, technical support, access to diverse programming, and a mechanism for sharing information and resources.

In August, a five-year “action plan” to address theaters’ needs was begun by Restore Oregon, Oregon Main Street, the Oregon Heritage Commission, Oregon Film (the Governor’s Office of Film and Video), the Oregon Arts Commission, the state’s Regional Solutions team, Pacific Power, and the UO‘s Community Service Center.

“There’s something about these facilities that really captures people’s imaginations, in part because they’re just such iconic symbols of culture and history,” Parker said.

And now the Roseway is in great shape to extend its history. Bonner said that because most historical theaters are smaller than newer ones, owners can get more bang for their buck in renovations.

“It takes a lot less money to make it more comfortable here than somewhere else,” he said. “If you were to try to make that same investment in a mega-plex, you have 20 different theaters to worry about as opposed to having just one big room to get up to date.”

The result of the Roseway renovation has been exactly what the University of Oregon study predicted would happen: a historical theater became a profitable place for the community to gather.

“You don’t feel like you just walked into a corporate building when you come here,” Bonner said. “It’s a lot more normal. There’s a small staff. We get to know the regular customers. The same people are constantly going in and out. It’s a neighborhood theater.”

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Oregon is often cited as a national leader in the electric vehicle industry, but even at the front of the pack, questions loom about the role that utilities should play as the industry grows and more charging stations connect to the grid.

Because utilities could ease the costs of developing new infrastructure by increasing the rates they charge for power, some have argued that utilities have an unfair advantage in the charging infrastructure market. But utilities and other members of the industry say placing regulations on the developing market is premature and will stifle growth.

Most states are in the early stages of dealing with the issue, but the California Public Utility Commission caused a stir earlier this year when it ruled to exclude utilities from the market, except in very limited instances.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission has spent more than a year investigating the role utilities may play in the industry, focusing primarily on Portland General Electric, Idaho Power Company and Pacific Power. The commission plans on release a decision this fall on whether utilities will be allowed to build and maintain charging infrastructure.

Instead of following the heavy constraints set forth in California, Oregon is leaning toward leaving the door open for utilities to develop charging stations, as long as they pay for the costs outside of their customer rates.

Utilities and electric vehicle companies are following the conversation closely, although they say the impact of the anticipated decision may not be felt for several years.

PGE has been pushing hard for EV development in Oregon. Through the company’s collaboration with Portland State University and the city of Portland on the Electric Avenue project, eight new EV charging stations, made by seven manufacturers, were unveiled on Tuesday on S.W. Montgomery Ave.

“Our view is that it’s still an early market … and we shouldn’t pre-judge any outcomes yet,” said Charlie Allcock, director of business development at PGE. “Let’s learn for the next couple of years, and then when we have information and experience, come up with more specific policies. Let’s not kill a nascent market by dumping a whole bunch of regulations on it.”

But companies competing with utilities to develop charging infrastructure contend that capital investments are at their most sensitive stage right now. Regulation is crucial while the market is still developing, they claim, and utilities need to be regulated because they could charge competitors higher rates for power and otherwise threaten the success of companies trying to break into the market.

“We feel that it’s the commission’s responsibility to set pretty clear parameters in the early market for how this is going to best work for Oregon,” said Alana Chavez-Langdon, vice president of government relations and public affairs for Ecotality Inc., a San Francisco-based electric transportation company.

Ecotality is following legislation all over the country because a $115 million federal grant has enabled the company to install approximately 14,000 EV charging stations in 18 U.S. cities. Along the Interstate 5 corridor in Oregon, Ecotality is working to install 1,100 units by the end of 2011.

The first and foremost priority for Ecotality, according to Chavez-Langdon, is ensuring a competitive market place on a level playing field, which will take different regulatory shapes in different states.

Even though questions about rates, infrastructure, and regulations remain, the electric vehicle market in Oregon is widely considered a leader in early adoption and early deployment and companies are trying to feed off of that momentum.

Drive Oregon, a nonprofit working to help EV startups capitalize on future funding opportunities, recently landed $1.2 million from the Oregon legislature. Moving forward, the most promising niche for Oregon companies will be in technology innovation according to Jesse Oliver, a Drive Oregon board member.

“We won’t become the next Detroit, we don’t have the manufacturing base to support that,” Oliver said. “The mandate that came with that grant money is to really develop out the software and technology side of things. We have a competitive advantage given the likes of Intel in the area. … we can really rise to the top.”

And the sooner the debate ends over utility involvement and other points of contention, the faster the industry will grow, said Oliver, who is also sales director at AmFor Electronics.

Based in Portland, AmFor has been in the transportation business since 1961, manufacturing and marketing wiring harnesses and other products for traditional vehicles. Two years ago, the company began selling its wiring systems to the EV market, which Oliver said has brought a substantial increase in business.

“Just like with any industry, the less bickering there is over competition at the beginning, the quicker we will get to a point where those discussions (about regulations) make sense,” he said. “If we get too deep into bickering and posturing over who will do what and how to divvy things up, it will constrict the industry’s growth.”

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The state’s first solar feed-in tariff installation in Pacific Power‘s Oregon territory is up and running.

Crooked River Ranch resident George Jameson last week saw his 3.24 kilowatt solar electric system go live thanks to the pilot incentive program. The feed-in tariff system allows utility companies to pay customers who have solar panels for the power they produce. The amount of power a system produces is deducted from the customer’s electricity bill. Jameson’s system was installed by Sunlight Solar of Bend.

“Previous incentive systems (for solar installations) were geared toward tax credits, so you needed a high income to take advantage,” Jameson said. “This system made it more viable for someone with an average income to install solar.”

The feed-in tariff program was launched July 1 by Pacific Power and Portland General Electric under the direction of the Oregon Legislature.

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Update: Well, that didn’t take long. I have word from both Pacific Power and Portland General Electric that all available reservations for folks looking to participate in the pilot project have been filled.

Pacific Power reportedly sold out in the first 15 minutes after opening up its online reservation site, taking on 75 solar projects. Pacific Power will have another call for reservations in October and every six months after that until the 15 year pilot program is completed.

PGE also sold out in the first 15 minutes. It received 97 applications.

Portland General Electric and Pacific Power began taking applications today for a pilot project that will lower utility bills for customers for the energy they generate with solar photovoltaic panels.

Known as a feed-in tariff in Europe, Oregon’s version is slightly different. While in Europe customers are allowed to sell any extra energy their systems generate to the utility, in Oregon, any extra energy produced is put into an energy assistance program for low-income customers.

Still, the utility does pay 65 cents per kilowatt hour, but instead of cutting a check, that amount is deducted from the customer’s normal electricity bill.

To sign up, visit .

The post Oregon pilot solar program fills up in 15 minutes appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Update: Well, that didn’t take long. I have word from both Pacific Power and Portland General Electric that all available reservations for folks looking to participate in the pilot project have been filled.

Pacific Power reportedly sold out in the first 15 minutes after opening up its online reservation site, taking on 75 solar projects. Pacific Power will have another call for reservations in October and every six months after that until the 15 year pilot program is completed.

PGE also sold out in the first 15 minutes. It received 97 applications.

Portland General Electric and Pacific Power began taking applications today for a pilot project that will lower utility bills for customers for the energy they generate with solar photovoltaic panels.

Known as a feed-in tariff in Europe, Oregon’s version is slightly different. While in Europe customers are allowed to sell any extra energy their systems generate to the utility, in Oregon, any extra energy produced is put into an energy assistance program for low-income customers.

Still, the utility does pay 65 cents per kilowatt hour, but instead of cutting a check, that amount is deducted from the customer’s normal electricity bill.

To sign up, visit .

The post Oregon pilot solar program fills up in 15 minutes appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.