Microgrids and community energy resilience for Oregon

Wildfires. Heat waves. Ice storms. Natural disasters are becoming more frequent, and are often leading to power outages, which are costly and sometimes deadly. They disrupt healthcare, business, education, and more. 

Oregon communities need solutions that will allow them to respond to and recover from power outages. Microgrids offer this solution by bolstering energy efficiency, energy independence, and grid reliability throughout the state. They make communities more energy resilient.

What is community energy resilience? 

A community that is energy resilient is able to provide critical services even during power outages. This includes hospitals, heating, cooling, clean water, food, and more. In other words, energy resilience relates to how well a city, town, or Tribal government can “keep the lights on” during an emergency or prolonged grid outage, which can be challenging in rural communities whose electric service is at the end of the transmission line. 

Enter microgrids

Microgrids are local, self-contained energy systems designed to operate independently of the larger power grid (known as islanding), or in coordination with it. This allows them to continue delivering power even during a grid disruption. During normal conditions, microgrids can also feed the grid, filling capacity shortages, which benefits not only the local community but also the region.

Microgrids can use a wide variety of energy sources – solar, wind, biomass, batteries, fuel cells, combined heat and power systems, and more – to deliver reliable and affordable energy to communities. Because microgrid systems are often paired with a battery, they can store electricity and deploy it during outages, allowing users to keep critical infrastructure like hospitals, communications centers, and fueling stations running when they need them most. Often, microgrids become local “resilience hubs.”

“In times of emergency, if the power goes down, microgrids act as a mini battery or generator to help the system work locally,” said Dan Whelan, director of government affairs for Sustainable Northwest.

Sustainable Northwest believes wide-scale microgrid development is an important strategy for increasing energy resilience, independence, and flexibility in rural, urban, and Tribal communities.

Hurdles facing microgrid development

Many communities in rural Oregon want to build local microgrids so they can be more energy independent during disasters and grid disruptions. Two areas in particular – Enterprise in northeast Oregon and the Bend-Redmond Airport – have been planning microgrids for several years, but ran into hurdles that stymied development. The biggest hurdle is that Oregon’s laws and regulations around microgrids are unclear. There is little guidance on who can develop, own, and operate microgrids. There is also a lack of capacity, expertise, and funding in communities to plan for and build them.  

How Sustainable Northwest is overcoming those hurdles

Sustainable Northwest and its partners have been working hard to address these questions. In 2023, our Making Energy Work Policy Committee helped draft, advocate, and pass a bill (HB 3630) in the Oregon Legislature to provide funding for counties to create energy resilience plans. As a result, the County Energy Resilience Grant Program made $2M of non-competitive funding available to all 36 of Oregon’s counties, paving the way for future microgrid development. As of March 2025, 19 counties have been awarded nearly $1M of funding to develop these plans.

Sustainable Northwest’s goal is to provide legislative framework, guidance, and funding to ensure every county in Oregon can build a community-led microgrid or other resilience hub to bolster their safety, independence, livelihood, and economies – especially for rural, end-of-transmission-line communities.

What’s next?

Sustainable Northwest and our coalition of partners are working with Oregon legislators, utilities, the Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC), and other community members to advance energy resilience and microgrid legislation. Our priority bills include:

• House Bill 2065 addresses the lack of capacity and expertise in the planning process by allowing third-party engineers to engage in the process alongside utilities. This will help address bottlenecks in the energy planning process and get more microgrids and other community energy projects built.

• House Bill 2066 requires OPUC to investigate and establish the rules and framework needed to allow community microgrid development in Oregon. This will improve clarity around who can develop, own, and operate microgrids. 

• House Bill 3171 extends the deadline of the state’s County Energy Resilience Grant Program to allow the remaining 17 counties to apply and develop energy resilience plans.

“The bottom line is, communities need more support and flexibility to become energy resilient. Microgrids are one solution to ensure communities can achieve their energy goals. These bills let them do that,” said Bridget Callahan, clean energy program director for Sustainable Northwest.

The House Committee on Climate, Energy, and Environment voted to advance all three bills by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in April 2025. At the time of writing, the bills have moved on to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, making progress to being passed into law this legislative session. Stay tuned to our communication channels to hear about how you can become involved in advocacy efforts.

“When the legislature passes these bills, Oregon will become the national leader in the microgrid space,” Whelan said. “We are advancing the ball on community energy resilience for the whole country.”

We would like to thank our Making Energy Work Policy Committee and the many stakeholders who have joined together to advance microgrid adoption in Oregon. We also thank the Oregon Community Foundation for making this work possible. Learn more about microgrids here!

AI-generated image of a community microgrid. All microgrids are unique and designed to suit local needs and circumstances, but this image illustrates what one might look like with solar power, windmills, and batteries.