ODOE Invites Public Input on the Draft Report on Siting and Permitting Large-Scale Electricity Infrastructure
Submit comments through July 24, 2026
The Oregon Energy Strategy identified five pathways that together represent the direction Oregon needs to take to meet its energy policy objectives – including an energy transition that will deliver clean, reliable, and affordable energy to all Oregonians. The five pathways are: (1) Energy Efficiency, (2) Clean Electricity, (3) Electrification, (4) Low-Carbon Fuels, and (5) Resilience.
The second pathway, Clean Electricity, highlights the need to increase transmission capacity to access out-of-state generation resources as well as the potential benefits – from energy resilience to local economic development – of deploying more clean energy generation within the state. The Energy Strategy calls for the state to facilitate energy infrastructure enhancement and expansion while avoiding, minimizing, and mitigating negative impacts on Tribal trust resources, energy burden, natural and working lands, cultural resources, and communities (Clean Electricity Policy 2a).
Following the Oregon Energy Strategy’s publication and Governor Kotek’s Executive Order 25-29, the Oregon Department of Energy is developing a report on Siting and Permitting Large-Scale Electricity Infrastructure, including potential streamlining opportunities for the public energy facility siting process. ODOE now has a draft report available that describes how the siting program is designed to avoid, minimize, and mitigate the negative impacts of large-scale energy projects and be inclusive of Tribal governments, state agencies, local governments and members of the public. It then describes how the siting program is structured to annually identify streamlining opportunities through rulemaking and specifically identified process improvement projects. Finally, it provides numerous streamlining efforts that have already occurred and provides further streamlining opportunities to evaluate in the near term.
ODOE is now seeking comments on the draft version of the report. Written comments are due by 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 24, 2026 and may be submitted online. ODOE will also hold a listening session on Monday, June 29, 2026, beginning at 4:30 p.m. to receive oral comments. Meeting log-in information and other materials will be available on ODOE’s Oregon Energy Strategy website.
ODOE is also working on other implementation efforts, including a draft Report on Reducing Barriers to Clean Energy Deployment, which was released on May 28, 2026 and has a comment due date of July 2, 2026.