A few months ago, the outlook for green energy in Oregon was bleak.
The state Legislature and Gov. Tina Kotek have repeatedly failed to address a major obstacle that has long held back wind and solar projects in the Northwest: aging power lines that are too clogged to handle renewable power.
A series of articles by Oregon Public Broadcasting and ProPublica identified federal and state bureaucratic barriers that are slowing improvements in power grid hardening. The lack of completed upgrades is a key reason why Oregon, like fellow progressive states and neighboring Washington, lags behind most states nationwide in clean energy growth, despite a national mandate to go green.
Bills addressing power transmission issues continued to die in the Oregon Legislature this spring.
But since this article was published, the urgency has increased.
Democrat Kotek has now issued two executive orders requiring state officials to accelerate renewable energy development through all available means, including expedited permitting and direct payments for new transmission lines.
These efforts may eventually be supported by funding. The state Energy Department first recommended that lawmakers consider creating a state entity to finance, plan and construct power lines. A lawmaker whose bill creating such powers failed this year suddenly has hope and says the governor’s office is working with him to make it happen.
What was essentially an unknown issue among many Oregon policymakers has now received the full attention of the governor and the key agencies he reports to. Power transmission is also receiving renewed attention in Washington state.
The change comes as President Donald Trump created new obstacles to renewable energy expansion. This year, he eliminated tax credits that made it cheaper to build wind and solar power, blocked new wind permits and fired employees at federal agencies that review permits.
This year has been a year of “all of these factors coming together. We know that our outdated power grid is inhibiting our ability to grow across the state, and we’re already paying more for electricity,” Kotek said in an interview last week.
When asked what prompted the change, Kotek credited the role of OPB and ProPublica reporting.
“You’ve written some great stories,” she said.
In May, OPB and ProPublica revealed that the state ranked 47th in renewable energy growth over the past decade. Washington is 50th.
A news organization’s analysis found that wind and solar farms in the Northwest have the longest odds of successfully connecting to the power grid in the country under a process tightly controlled by the Bonneville Power Administration. Federal transmission lines and substations make up 75% of the region’s power grid.
Of the 469 large-scale renewable projects that have sought access to Bonneville’s systems since 2015, only one has been successful. Backers of other projects had either abandoned their requests or were still waiting on studies and necessary upgrades to transmission lines and substations.
Power companies in the northwest fear rolling blackouts within a decade unless they expand transmission capacity to meet the surge in energy demand, particularly from data centers supporting artificial intelligence.
Kotek said he didn’t know the numbers about Oregon’s stagnant renewable energy growth until OPB and ProPublica reported it.
“We want our numbers to look better and better over the next few years, and we have plans in place,” she said.
When lawmakers in 2021 enacted Oregon’s plan to phase out the use of fossil fuels in power generation by 2040, they didn’t take into account the glacial pace that transmission and Bonneville had set for improvements. (The agency has previously said that decisions to approve projects are based on financial prudence.)
Oregon leaders also did not address the state’s slow process for evaluating energy projects, which they say could drag out permitting decisions for new power lines and wind and solar farms for years. This rule has its roots in the anti-nuclear movement of the 1970s. Opponents say local power transmission and wind projects are destroying the landscape and using the permit system as a means of delay.
Legislation to smooth the state’s permitting process went nowhere, even if it was supported by local interests. Attempts to bypass Bonneville also withered. Advocates earlier this year proposed state funding authority for new transmission lines and substations. The bill was not supported by Kotek or the Oregon Department of Energy and died.
Emily Moore, director of climate and energy at the Seattle-based think tank Sightline Institute, said the OPB and ProPublica reports are “invaluable” in spurring change.
“This is motivating policymakers and advocates alike to find solutions to the impasse in Oregon and Washington, and recruiting new talent to the effort,” Moore said.
Kotek’s latest executive order asks a wide range of state agencies to recommend ways to overcome obstacles to clean energy development. This comes after he ordered state officials in October to “take all necessary steps” to expedite permits for solar and wind power.
Separately, the Energy Department recommended that lawmakers consider creating a new entity, similar to those in Colorado and New Mexico, that would plan transmission routes, partner with transmission developers and issue bonds to finance construction. The agency’s strategic plan, completed in November, said the state needs to streamline clean energy development and take a more active role in building regional transmission lines.
Similar findings emerged in a Dec. 1 report by a state task force created by Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, which called for the creation of a dedicated state agency focused on increasing transmission capacity. The authors cited OPB and ProPublica reporting in 2025, saying Washington is lagging behind in building the infrastructure needed to meet green energy goals. (Ferguson requested the report after Seattle Times and ProPublica reported last year about the energy consumed by data centers that receive generous state tax breaks.)
“This could be a game-changer,” said Joni Sliger, senior policy analyst at the Oregon Energy Authority.
The governor also directed the department and Oregon public utility regulators to designate physical routes within the state that could streamline permitting for power lines and to mobilize financial support for projects in the public interest.
A proposed power line in eastern Oregon has been stuck in the permitting process for nearly 20 years. The line is expected to pass through this section in Ragland, Oregon. Steve Lentz, ProPublica
Kotek noted that the Boardman-to-Hemingway power line in eastern Oregon had been left unpermitted for nearly 20 years, an episode highlighted in OPB and ProPublica reporting. The governor called the state’s response to the project a “red flag.”
“We have to get out of our ways,” she said.
Kotek’s executive order drew praise from various organizations who attended with the governor when he announced his latest move in November.
“This will make our energy system stronger and more reliable, strengthen the resiliency of our power grid, expand storage, strengthen transmission, and keep power affordable and reliable for all Oregonians,” Nora Apter, Oregon state director for clean energy advocacy group Climate Solutions, said at the time.
The head of Oregon Business for Climate, which represents the interests of real estate developers, wineries, coffee roasters and others, also spoke at the event.
Tim Miller, the group’s director, said Oregon has an energy permitting system in place to ensure siting is done right, but Kotek’s order “reminds the state that we need to get things done, too.”
Lawmakers are currently working on a plan to create a state transmission finance authority during the next legislative session in early 2027.
Rep. Mark Gamba, a Portland-area Democrat whose efforts to create such a body failed last year, said the governor’s office is consulting with him on the new bill and that he expects it to pass thanks to his involvement.
“The attitude she’s had so far is exactly what we needed,” he said.
Gamba said he was seeing renewed support for the outbreak across the political spectrum.
“Typically, I get calls from stakeholders on the other side of the fight, because they realize this is also an economic development issue,” Gamba said.
