ODOE at 50: On to the Next 50
2025 marks 50 years of Oregon Department of Energy public service. As we continue leading Oregon to a safe, equitable, clean, and sustainable future for the next 50 years (and beyond!), we’ve been taking time this year to look back and reflect on what got us here.
Thank you for joining us in celebrating our anniversary! Take a look at some highlights we’ve shared from our first 50 years:
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Almost since its inception, ODOE has offered incentive programs to help Oregonians across the state invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy. In February, we reflection on the Renewable Energy Development Grant Program. Between 2012 and 2019, the RED Grant Program awarded grants for energy projects to Tribes, businesses, nonprofits, organizations, public bodies, and schools. ODOE’s program used a two-tier grant award system so similarly sized projects competed against each other, which ensured smaller projects could remain competitive. The program also tapped into an innovative funding source – an independently administered auction of tax credits – to help the agency serve more Oregonians without using scarce state general fund dollars. Read on.
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As ODOE commemorated 50 years of service, so did Oregon’s Energy Facility Siting Council. Oregon’s energy facility siting law originated with formation of the Nuclear and Thermal Energy Council in 1971. Its role was to regulate the siting of nuclear and coal-fired generating plans that had an electric generating capacity of at least 200 megawatts. As the legislature considered a new Oregon Department of Energy, it also decided to revise its energy facility siting laws and replace the Nuclear and Thermal Energy Council with the Energy Facility Siting Council, focusing the Council beyond just nuclear and coal facilities. With that new legislation, the Oregon Department of Energy was to provide staff support for the governor-appointed Council – a role that continues today. Read on.
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In 1883, inventor Charles Fritts created the first solar cell, made of selenium and gold. While it didn’t produce a significant amount of energy, it was still the kick-start for developing solar photovoltaic panels to produce renewable energy in the United States. Oregon had been a state for just 24 years at the time. More than a century later, Oregon has its own history of investing in and supporting solar energy from incentive and loan programs for Tribes, businesses, homes, public buildings, and more, to policies that bolstered development across the state. Read on.
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The 1970s brought forth a concept of Home Energy Rating Systems that could provide a standardized way to assess a home’s energy efficiency. Early programs created a pass/fail system for homes, while today’s modernized home energy scoring systems provide more nuanced analysis, recommended improvements, and payback periods for potential actions. The U.S. Department of Energy launched its official Home Energy Score program in 2012 to help build market value for energy-efficient homes. Oregon has long been an energy leader and quickly joined the U.S. DOE’s energy scoring movement. In 2013, the Oregon Legislature passed HB 2801, which directed the Oregon Department of Energy to adopt, by administrative rule, a home energy performance score system to evaluate energy conservation and efficiency in homes. Read on.
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Over its five decades of public service, ODOE has received significant support for its work through federal funding from agencies like the U.S. Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Defense. ODOE is grateful for our partnership with federal agencies, including longtime funding to Oregon from the U.S. State Energy Program as well as support for Oregon’s role in the Hanford Nuclear Site cleanup. In addition to longtime programs, the federal government has also used state energy offices over time to help advance energy policy and help the economy recover following economic downturns, such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the more recent 2021 Infrastructure and Investment and Jobs Act and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (learn more on ODOE’s website). Read on.
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For more than 40 years, the federal government produced plutonium for America’s nuclear weapons program at the Hanford Site in southeast Washington state, about 35 miles from Umatilla, Oregon. Plutonium production ended at Hanford in 1988 but the site was left with tremendous amounts of radioactive and chemically hazardous waste. Those wastes were disposed of or leaked into the soil over time – which in turn contaminated Hanford’s groundwater. That contamination poses a long-term threat to the Columbia River, which flows from Hanford down to Oregon past local communities and prime farmlands and fisheries. Since the focus of Hanford shifted to cleanup in 1989, Oregon has been at the table to ensure cleanup decisions are protective of the river. Read on.
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Oregon has a long history of setting state goals and implementing efforts to address greenhouse gas emissions. In 1990, an Oregon Task Force on Global Warming issued a report to the Governor and Legislature on how global warming could affect Oregon. Two ODOE team members participated on the task force, which determined that climate change from global warming is a serious threat and that Oregon needed to take steps to combat the effects of climate change, including “environmentally benign energy development.” Later in the 1990s, the Oregon Legislature passed a bill regulating CO2 emissions from energy facilities, including a new Energy Facility Siting Standard on CO2 – a standard that remains in place today. Read on.
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Over the last 50 years of public service, the Oregon Department of Energy has proudly worked with every school district – statewide – on energy analysis of facilities and energy-related projects and improvements. Our programs have helped public schools across the state invest in renewable energy, improve energy efficiency, and even make the switch to electric school buses in recent years. In the early ODOE days, school districts could take advantage of now-expired tax credit and grant programs to make energy efficiency improvements or invest in renewable energy at school buildings. As Oregon leaned into the transition to an equitable clean energy future, the state developed specific programs for schools to help create better learning environments for the next generation of Oregonians. Read on.
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In October, ODOE’s Grounded podcast welcomed a few special guests – past agency directors who joined host Katelyn Jackson to discuss their tenures leading the agency. As the agency aged, some topics were present for each of the directors interviewed, including conversations around nuclear energy and the cleanup at the Hanford site in Richland, Washington. Throughout its 50 years, ODOE has advanced energy efficiency measures, bolstered clean energy, and reduced emissions through tax credits, rebates, or incentives; supported energy in schools through the Public Purpose Charge; and established a CO2 standard for energy facilities and greenhouse gas reduction goals, among many other efforts. Listen online.
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In November, we rounded out our ODOE at 50 series with a look back at energy planning. In 1975, the year ODOE was established by the Oregon Legislature, the Office of Energy Research and Planning for then-Governor Tom McCall wrote a report called Transition, calling it “A Book on Future Energy: Nuclear or Solar?” In a 1977 reprint of Transition, Governor McCall added an introduction, in which he said “Transition is a bold document. It challenges the people of this state to create their own future rather than having it arbitrarily imposed upon them.” In the following decades, Oregon leaders developed bold energy policies and actions, and ODOE administered programs to support energy efficiency and renewable energy in Oregon homes, businesses, agriculture, public buildings, and others. This year, of course, we launched a new Oregon Energy Strategy that charts the course to our clean energy future. Read on.
We’ve had a great time looking back at ODOE’s history this year. ODOE staff past and present gathered in July to celebrate 50 years of ODOE, including some past directors who later joined the podcast linked above.
Governor Kotek also wrote a letter to ODOE Director Janine Benner and the rest of the team to celebrate our 50th year, writing “I want to thank all of you for the dedication you have shown to our state … Transitioning to a clean energy system that is both reliable and affordable requires collaboration and long-term work. It will take all of us to confront the climate crisis and build a brighter future. Onward, to the next 50 years!”