America now has over 242,000 solar workers, according to the National Solar Jobs Census 2018. These jobs are providing clean, affordable, renewable energy in all 50 states.
Read MoreThe Oregon Department of Energy expects to have two vacancies on the Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC). The EFSC is made up of seven volunteer members who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate.
Read MorePortland General Electric’s next big renewable energy resource will be a unique combination of wind, solar and battery energy storage in Eastern Oregon, the utility announced Wednesday.
Read MoreGreetings from OSEIA! Our mighty staff of three would like to share the highlights of OSEIA’s 2018 work as we begin again this year. Our new Executive Director, Angela Crowley-Koch has been with OSEIA for just over two months and has hit the ground running!
Read MoreHB 2020, the Clean Energy Jobs bill, will receive public hearings around the state starting today, February 15th. The bill creates a Cap-and-Invest program to limit the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. There are three opportunities for your voice to be heard:
Read MoreTechnical Training Sponsorship Opportunity & Technical Training Instructor Request for Quotes
Read MoreLast week the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) heard public comment on proposed rules that would ban large solar projects from class 1 and 2 soils (essentially, the Willamette Valley) and place serious restrictions on class 3 and 4 soils.
Read MoreRead OSEIA's written comments regarding proposed rulemaking by the LCDC regarding the size of solar and power generation facilities on farmland.
Read MoreOnce again we would like to thank all of you for your support of our efforts in the RVOS docket, particularly those providing necessary funding that made our response possible! This docket is critical to all residential, commercial, and community solar systems in OR and it will very likely have an impact on small utility projects in the future. The outcome of this docket will impact our efforts to increase net metering level in 2019 so it will have a near term impact even if it’s not used directly in a program.
Read MoreSlowly but surely, the implementation process continues for the community solar program. Though program ruleswere officially adoptedone year ago, there remained critical details to be determined during this implementation phase prior to an actual program launch. The most significant update at this point in the process is the PUC’s establishment of an interim credit rate for an interim amount of capacity (Order 18 177) during an April 24, 2018 hearing. However, we’re now on the cusp of a Program Administrator (PA) being selected, which, in parallel to continued stakeholder engagement, should accelerate the implementation process beginning at the end of Summer or early Fall of this year and hopefully result in a program launch by the end of the year or Q1 or Q2 of 2019. The following summary provides more insight into what’s been decided thus far, what we’re waiting on, and opportunities for engagement.
The biggest and most recent update for the program…
Read MoreOSEIA submitted comments to the SB 978 PUC process that highlight three core areas that OSEIA recommends the PUC and state legislature should address with policies and regulations:
Oregonians should be able to freely choose who they get their power from and to produce their own as well.
Oregon should prioritize local distributed renewables over out of state renewables
Oregon should adopt policies and regulations that increase both grid and community resilience
SALEM — The Oregon Department of Energy announced today 18 recipients of $2 million in Renewable Energy Development Grant funds. The RED Grant program, which was awarded a national State Leadership in Clean Energy award from the Clean Energy States Alliance in May, supports Oregon businesses, nonprofits, and organizations investing in renewable energy systems that use biomass, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, wind, landfill gas, biogas, wave, tidal, or ocean energy to produce electricity.
Read MoreThe Board of Renewable Northwest (RNW) today announced that Nicole Hughes will be its new executive director. Renewable Northwest is the region’s leading renewable energy advocacy organization. Hughes brings more than 15 years of experience in all aspects of renewable energy development including project management, financing, and strategic policy to the helm of Renewable NW. She succeeds long-time executive director, Rachel Shimshak, who late last year announced plans to leave the organization by this July.
Read MoreBy Tamara Staton, Thriving Solar - Clearly, in a market like ours wrought with uncertainty and fluctuation, there are multiple opportunities to communicate with legislators and do our best to influence solar legislation. For many business owners and solar players, this seems like a no-brainer, and the idea of calling legislators and asking others to do the same is akin to brushing their teeth twice a day. But for others, such a task may seem like a bigger undertaking, full of processes that seem foreign, awkward or futile, and wrought with the underlying question of how much to mix politics and business.
The intention of this article is not so much to advocate for the role of business in politics, but rather to highlight the value of advocacy not only for the industry as a whole, but for our individuals businesses and organizations within the space
Read MoreMedford School District 549C has released an invitation to bid for a 11.4 kW system. Deadline, 2:00pm March 20, 2018. Optional pre-bid meeting March 2 at 1:00pm. Full Medford School District Invitation to Bid.
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