Oregon – Global Power Law & Policy

Oregon Passes Law to Explore Opportunities for Renewable Hydrogen Development

May 25 2021

By: Gabrielle E. Thompson and William H. Holmes

On 19 May 2021, Governor Kate Brown signed Senate Bill 333 into law, which directs the Oregon Department of Energy to study the potential for development of renewable hydrogen production and use in Oregon. The results of the study are due to the Legislature by 15 September 2022.

Under the new law, the study will evaluate the benefits, as well as any barriers, to the production and use of renewable hydrogen in Oregon. The study will utilize existing data, studies, or other publicly available materials to analyze how “renewable hydrogen may support existing renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction policies and goals in Oregon.”¹

Specifically, the study will identify the total hydrogen volume currently used each year in Oregon by various industries and the potential applications of renewable hydrogen in Oregon by 2030 by sectors such as transportation, industry, electricity generation, and energy storage. The study will also include an assessment of the potential for using renewable hydrogen in conjunction with other renewable electricity generation to increase resiliency or to provide flexible loads.

Additionally, the study will look at the forecasted costs of renewable hydrogen and how those costs may affect its adoption in Oregon. Finally, the study will consider and identify any technological, policy, commercial, or economic barriers to the adoption of renewable hydrogen in Oregon.

The study represents an important first step in determining the opportunities for developing renewable hydrogen production and development in Oregon, which has adopted a Renewable Portfolio Standard that requires 50 percent of the electricity Oregonians use come from renewable sources by 2040. Renewable hydrogen is another potential source that could be used to meet those renewable energy requirements.

The bill, which was sponsored in the Senate by Senator Lee Beyer (D – Springfield), received a unanimous vote in favor by the House Energy and Environment Committee and received bipartisan support from Representative Helm (D – Washington County) and Representative Brock-Smith (R – Port Orford), who carried the bill to the House floor where it passed unanimously.

The bill was drafted by Renewable Hydrogen Alliance (RHA), a trade association based in Portland, Oregon, with more than 70 members in the United States and worldwide dedicated to the mission of using renewable electricity to create clean fuels.

¹Senate Bill (SB) 333 Enrolled (2021).

Oregon Lawmakers Consider Carbon Pricing Legislation

Mar 30 2017

By Ankur K. Tohan, Alyssa A. Moir, Buck B. Endemann, Christina A. Elles

This is the second installment in the West Coast Carbon Policy Update — Three Part Series, which will examine carbon policies along the West Coast in Washington, Oregon, and California.

On March 28, 2017 President Trump signed an executive order instructing the Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw and rewrite the Clean Power Plan, but lawmakers in Oregon are pushing ahead with statewide efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. Oregon lawmakers are currently considering several carbon pricing bills — including a cap-and-trade program, a carbon tax, a cap-and-fee program, and a GHG emission rule issued by the state’s environmental agency — that will add a pricing component to the state’s GHG goals.

To read the full alert on K&L Gates HUB, click here.

Next Steps for Community Solar After the Passage of Oregon’s Landmark Clean Energy Legislation

Apr 12 2016

Oregon’s landmark “Clean Electricity and Coal Transition Plan,” Senate Bill 1547 (SB 1547), was recently signed into law by Governor Kate Brown. Among other things, the new law increases Oregon’s renewable portfolio standard to 50 percent by 2040 and requires Oregon’s investor-owned utilities to eliminate coal-fired resources from the electricity allocated to Oregon’s ratepayers by 2030. We will be posting an analysis of the new law shortly, but in this post we wanted to focus on the part of SB 1547 that will establish a community solar program in Oregon.

Oregon PUC Opens Docket to Implement an Energy Storage Program; Workshop Scheduled for January 27, 2016

Jan 06 2016

The Oregon Public Utilities Commission (the “OPUC” or “Commission”) opened Docket No. UM 1751 in compliance with House Bill 2193. As discussed in an earlier blog post, HB 2193 requires electric companies to procure qualifying energy storage systems by January 1, 2020, subject to authorization by the OPUC. Section 3(1) of the legislation requires the Commission to adopt guidelines no later than January 1, 2017 for an electric company to use when submitting a proposal for one or more energy projects by January 1, 2018.

OPUC reschedules Community Solar Workshop 2 for September 22, 2015

Sep 09 2015

The second workshop in the Oregon Public Utility Commission (the “Commission”) Docket No. UM 1746 (HB 2941 Community Solar Program Design) has been rescheduled from Wednesday, September 23rd to Tuesday, September 22. The workshop was rescheduled in order to accommodate stakeholders who observe Yom Kippur and to encourage stakeholder participation.

OPUC Seeks Public Comment by September 1 in Its Community Solar Program Docket

Aug 26 2015

In an email sent to interested stakeholders on August 14, 2015, the Staff of the Oregon Public Utility Commission (the “Commission”) provided further guidance on the public comments due in Docket No. UM 1746 on September 1, 2015, and released a revised docket schedule. As we reported in our August 6, 2015, blog post, the Commission opened UM 1746 to examine a range of possible community solar programs and requested that stakeholders submit proposals for community solar designs by August 7, 2015. Seven stakeholders filed proposals or comments, including Oregon’s investor-owned utilities; Citizens’ Utility Board of Oregon; joint nongovernmental organizations (NWSEED, Oregon SEIA, RNW, Portland Bureau of Planning & Sustainability, Oregonians for Renewable Energy Process, and NWEC); Northwest & Intermountain Power Producers Coalition; Oregon Department of Energy; and Vote Solar. Some of the proposals described specific community solar designs, while others proposed a preferred set of community solar attributes.

Proposals for Community Solar Programs in Oregon due Friday, August 7, 2015

Aug 06 2015

Under Section 3 of Oregon’s recently enacted HB 2941, the Oregon Public Utility Commission has opened Docket No. UM 1746 to examine a range of community solar programs that allow individual customers to share in the costs and benefits of solar facilities, focusing on the attributes of different community solar program designs. The Commission is required to submit a recommendation on program design to the legislature by November 1, 2015.

In order to meet the November 1, 2015 deadline, the Commission has created a non-traditional process and accelerated timeline to obtain stakeholder input and finalize the Commission’s recommendation. The Commission has requested that interested parties submit proposals for community solar program designs by this Friday, August 7, 2015, in advance of the first staff workshop scheduled for August 11, 2015. Read More

Oregon Enacts Energy Storage Legislation

Jun 25 2015

On June 1, 2015, the Oregon legislature passed House Bill 2193-B, which requires certain electric companies to procure qualifying energy storage systems by January 1, 2020, subject to authorization by the Oregon Public Utility Commission (the “Commission”). An electric company may recover in rates all costs prudently incurred in the procurement of the energy storage system(s), including any above-market costs associated with procurement. The final version of the bill enjoyed broad support, passing the Oregon Senate by a vote of 17-12 and the House by a vote of 56-3. Governor Kate Brown signed the bill into law on June 10.

To read the full alert, click here.

Oregon Moves Ahead on Energy Storage

May 26 2015

The Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) recently announced that in June 2015 it will issue a request for proposals (RFP) for an electrical energy storage demonstration project. The U.S. Department of Energy will make $250,000 in federal funding available for the selected project, and ODOE and Oregon BEST will supply an additional $45,000. The RFP is intended to incent 500 kW or larger storage projects that “improve electric transmission and/or distribution system operations, service quality, and reliability.” The RFP will be technology neutral, and ODOE hopes to receive bids from “utilities, energy storage technology vendors, energy service suppliers and electric utility customers.” Applicants will need to have either a “committed utility partner” or a letter of support from the utility with which the project will interconnect—potential bidders may want to begin laying the groundwork for those arrangements pending the RFP’s issuance. The recipient of the award will be expected to provide a minimum 50% cost share and will need to “start” the project in 2015. (ODOE’s press release does not explain what will be required to “start,” and presumably the RFP will address that question.)

ODOE’s press release can be found here. The RFP announcement will appear on ODOE’s energy storage web site in June.

This announcement comes hard on the heels of news that the Oregon Senate Business and Transportation Committee passed H.B. 2193 out to the full Senate following a hearing on May 20. The proposed legislation would direct electric companies, if authorized by Oregon’s Public Utility Commission, to procure certain energy storage systems. The bill passed the Oregon House by a vote of 58-2. We’ll report on the final version of the bill if it is enacted, which seems likely—in the meantime, a summary of an earlier version of the legislation can be found here.

Oregon Considers Energy Storage Legislation

Mar 13 2015

The Oregon legislature is considering a bill that would require the state’s large electric utilities to procure one or more “qualifying energy storage systems” by January 1, 2020. H.B. 2193 would apply to any entity that is engaged in the business of distributing electricity to retail electricity consumers in Oregon (not including a consumer-owned utility) if the entity makes sales of electricity to retail customers in an amount that equals 3 percent or more of all electricity sold to retail electricity customers in Oregon. An energy storage system is deemed to be “qualifying” if it is “cost-effective,” and the legislation contemplates that each electric company would procure one or more such systems having the capacity to store not less than 5 megawatts of electricity but not more than an amount of electricity that is equal to one percent of the company’s peak load for 2014. H.B. 2193 would allow an electric company to recover in its rates all costs prudently incurred in procuring one or more cost-effective energy storage systems, “including any above-market costs associated with procurement.”

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