Oregon Clean Grid Summit: Q&A With Attendees
Last month, OEC, Renewable Northwest, and our partners in the Oregon Clean Grid Collaborative (OCGC) joined in person with a diverse group of clean energy stakeholders from across Oregon for the first annual Oregon Clean Grid Summit. The summit brought together 120 community leaders, industry experts, and federal and state officials for a dialogue about how to reliably, equitably, and affordably deliver clean energy to households and businesses in Oregon.
This all-day, in-person event offered insights into the role of regional energy market and transmission development in achieving Oregon’s 100% clean energy mandates, delivering energy affordability and reliability, and supporting meaningful job creation in Oregon and the region. Panel discussions focused on timely issues related to regional market evolution, transmission infrastructure, and building an equitable energy grid for Oregon.
The summit served as an important forum for dialogue and a launchpad for collaboration as we work to advance a future where Oregon’s power grid is clean, reliable, affordable, and accessible to all, while protecting the natural places and communities that make Oregon special
OEC reached out to a few attendees to learn more about what brought them to the event, their insights from the day’s panel and breakout discussions, and their thoughts on the future of clean energy in Oregon. The following is a compilation of our Q&A.
Question #1. What brought you to the Clean Grid Summit? What were your biggest takeaways from the event?
Barton Robison, Willamette Partnership (attendee): I’m wildly ignorant about the region’s energy plans, especially as it relates to implementation that helps Oregon reach the state’s energy goals. My biggest takeaways were: it’s complicated! And that there’s a place at the table for lots of people with different areas of expertise. It made me feel so good to hear so many people say “I don’t understand how this works.”
Courtney Lee, Amazon Web Services (attendee and sponsor): The Clean Grid Collaborative is playing a pivotal role when it comes to advocating for transmission development, a regional energy market and energy affordability. Amazon Web Services (AWS) operates data centers in eastern Oregon and is committed to becoming a more sustainable business and reaching net-zero carbon across operations by 2040.
We really value the work the Glean Grid Collaborative is doing and the Summit provided a great opportunity to network with advocates, community leaders and experts in these issues. I always look for an opportunity to learn more about what leaders in this space are working on and how I can plug in from a policy perspective and highlight AWS and our work on renewable energy procurement and policy development.
My biggest takeaway from the event was the wide variety of stakeholders and opinions, and the complexity of these topics. It was also very encouraging that everyone was working to align on ways to continue to decarbonize the grid. It is so meaningful to have these events to spark these conversations and allow the space to identify ways to work together on proactive policy. The tabletop discussions demonstrated an open-mindedness from community leaders as they shared their perspectives on tackling some of the challenges of decarbonizing the grid.
Anahi Rodriguez, Verde (panelist): Verde has been a partner since the start and we were happy to help support OCGC at the Clean Grid Summit! Some of my main takeaways from the summit are that we still have a lot of work to do to involve our communities at these tables, but a lot of partners are ready to do that engagement!
Question #2. What do you think are the greatest barriers in Oregon’s transition to a clean electric grid? How might advocates, community leaders, businesses, and decision-makers work together to overcome those hurdles?
Barton Robison, Willamette Partnership (attendee): I’m still concerned that the people who are most important to helping Oregon achieve our energy goals—rural communities in particular—aren’t better represented in the spaces where planning and ideating are happening. Policy makers, legislators, and leaders in the energy sector need to be doing relationship building and community engagement work NOW to understand how we can design a clean grid that supports all Oregon communities and doesn’t further extractive, unjust practices.
Courtney Lee, AWS (attendee and sponsor): Amazon has invested in more than 500 new solar and wind energy projects globally and is the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy for the fourth year in a row. We are committed to working with advocates, community leaders and policymakers to ensure that renewable energy can get on the grid to ensure that states can meet their clean energy goals. There is a huge opportunity to enable clean energy in Oregon, but currently the lack of transmission infrastructure often prevents the ability for that renewable energy to be used because of the long interconnection queue in the Northwest.
It is critical for advocates, community leaders and businesses to work together to overcome barriers to a clean electric grid. In the Oregon Legislature, for example, continued convenings of workgroups and stakeholder meetings to talk about the barriers and brainstorm ways to overcome the issue through policy development will be important.
Anahi Rodriguez, Verde (panelist): 1. Cost – we know that upgrading our aging grid will be expensive and low-income communities will feel the impacts of this the most.
2. Grid Reliability – Oregon’s grid will need to be able to handle variability of clean energy! We need to ensure that we are able to keep people’s energy going.
3. Land Use and Environmental impact – We need to ensure that indigenous tribes, lands, and environment are respected.
I think it’s important that all work together and come together at the table to ensure that we are balancing the environment, people and our energy resources.
Crystal Ball, Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee (panelist): The dual challenge of extraordinary growth in consumption and the transition to lower carbon-emitting generation resources translates to a tremendous and urgent need to upgrade the region’s energy infrastructure – including expanding electricity transmission capacity, diversifying power supplies and accelerating the deployment of advanced technologies. This will require intense coordinated planning along with strong public support to ensure an adequate, reliable power supply during the region’s transition to a cleaner energy future.
I’m grateful to Renewable Northwest and OEC for bringing people together at the Clean Grid Summit to build greater understanding about the changes in the Pacific Northwest power supply, and appreciate the opportunity to share a regional utility perspective at the summit.
Question #3: How do you hope/plan to continue engaging in equitable grid decarbonization and/or the Oregon Grid Collaborative moving forward?
Barton Robison, Willamette Partnership (attendee): I want to continue to learn about the infrastructure needs required for decarbonization and to advocate for the communities that will be most impacted by these updates.
Courtney Lee, AWS (attendee and sponsor): My hope is to continue collaborating with the Oregon Clean Grid Collaborative to elevate the importance of its work and continue these important decarbonization conversations. There are so many opportunities to learn from other advocates and community leaders and I look forward to engaging with them on proactive policies focused on a clean grid in Oregon.
Anahi Rodriguez, Verde (panelist): I hope that organizations like Verde are invited to and welcomed at these tables! It’s so important that we are hearing from all different people. Lived experience is still experience.
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