OSEIA and the Solar Education Fund at the Oregon Public Utility Commission

OSEIA, through the work of our Solar Education Fund, is hard at work representing solar at the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC).  There are many ongoing dockets that impact solar and you can read the details here >

Here are the top ones we’re working on:

 Distribution System Planning (UM 2005).  This docket is an effort to have a system-wide plan for distribution, which Oregon has not done before. Unlike previous dockets, the PUC is making a concerted effort to have the process include community stakeholders.  Shannon Souza, OSEIA policy chair and SolCoast owner, is representing OSEIA’s interests in conjunction with help from Vote Solar. 

General Capacity (UM 2011).  This docket is an effort to establish common definitions of capacity amongst utilities, stakeholders and the PUC.  How capacity is defined will have a large impact for all kinds of solar.  Crossborder Energy is representing solar’s interest and Shannon Souza has been heavily involved as well.

Interconnection – The PUC is opening a new interconnection investigation to examine various issues surrounding interconnection at all levels.  OSEIA intends to participate fully in this important investigation.

A smaller docket (UM 2099) has opened regarding PGE’s curtailment of solar in areas where substation capacity is limited.  OSEIA and some members will participate to ask that curtailment not be a long-term solution – PGE needs to make its own upgrades!  PUC staff agrees that curtailment is not a long-term fix.

Network upgrades (UM 2032).  This is an interconnection docket related to QF projects.  REC, NIPPC and CREA are participating and OSEIA has pledged to support those groups.

Pacifcorp queue reform (UM 2108) – OSEIA joined our partners in pushing for additional workshops and information about Pacificorp’s queue reform proposal for state projects, after their queue reform proposal and the Federal level went through.  Their current proposal is rushed and without foresight into how solar projects can change after studies are completed.  We will work with OSEIA members and partners to submit comments this week.

Governor Brown’s Executive Order (20-04) – Governor Brown issued an Executive Order in March asking all agencies to maximize their greenhouse gas reductions and to move as quickly as possible.  OSEIA has submitted multiple rounds of comments and is working with other clean energy stakeholders to push the PUC to use all of their authority to push the needle on GHG reductions.  This includes work on interconnection, revising the Resource Value of Solar (RVOS) to include the social cost of carbon, expanding Community Solar, and performance-based ratemaking to support solar.  OSEIA and our Education Fund will be working hard to the Executive Order for the coming year. Read OSEIA’s full comments here >