Energy Trust of Oregon is now accepting applications from eligible renewable energy projects seeking more than $150,000 of Project Installation incentive funding. A competitive process will be used to award these funds. Applications are due on May 27, 2022.

Energy Trust is also accepting applications on an ongoing basis for Project Development Assistance and Project Installation incentives of $150,000 or less.

Eligible Project Technologies:

Biopower, hydroelectric, municipal scale community-owned wind, and geothermal electric projects with nameplate capacity of 20 MW or less. Projects that support reliability, resilience and the integration of renewable energy resources with the distribution system are also eligible. Proposed projects must net-meter, sell energy directly, or otherwise offset energy for Portland General Electric or Pacific Power in Oregon.

Types of Funding Available:

Energy Trust offers two different types of incentive funds, Project Development Assistance incentive funds and Project Installation incentive funds.

Project Development Assistance

Incentive funds are available to pay for a portion of pre-construction development activities. Examples of eligible project assistance include feedstock analyses, feasibility studies, pre-design, design, engineering, interconnection, and studies related to permitting. Incentives are paid to the project developer or owner on a reimbursement basis, after the work has been completed.

Incentive funding for Project Development Assistance is available up to a cumulative total of $200,000 per project. Project proponents are encouraged to apply anytime using standard forms available at www.energytrust.org/renewable-energy. Project Development Assistance funding is awarded on a first come, first served basis and subject to budget availability.

Project Installation

Incentive funds are also available to support the construction of eligible renewable energy projects. Funding awards are based on budget availability, project costs and an analysis of the above-market costs of the project. Incentives are paid to the project developer or owner after construction is complete and particular performance milestones are achieved.

Incentives of $150,000 or less: apply anytime. Funding is awarded on a first come, first served basis, subject to budget availability. To apply, request a copy of the installation application from the Energy Trust staff listed at the end of this announcement.

Incentives more than $150,000: respond to the current Funding Opportunities Announcement by May 27, 2022. A competitive process is used to award funding. To apply, request a copy of Form 901RE - Renewable Energy Project Installation Application from the Energy Trust staff listed at the end of this announcement.

Additional information for projects seeking over $150,000 in Project Installation funding

A competitive process will be used to award project installation incentives of more than $150,000. Project developers that have made a decision to construct an eligible renewable energy project that and that will be net-metering, selling energy directly, or otherwise offsetting Portland General Electric or Pacific Power load in Oregon are encouraged to apply. Projects must be able to begin physical construction by December 31, 2024.

Under the current funding opportunity, $1.5 million is available for projects serving Portland General Electric territory and $1.0 million is available for projects serving Pacific Power territory. Energy Trust reserves the right to allocate additional funds depending on demand for incentives.

Energy Trust staff may recommend funding all, some, or none of the project submissions, and incentive offers may be less than amount requested.

To be considered for the competitive funding opportunity for Project Installation incentives over $150,000, a complete Form 901RE - Renewable Energy Project Installation Application must be received by 5:00 pm on May 27, 2022.

Other potential funding:

Project Marketing & Outreach

Energy Trust is always open to considering new, innovative, programmatic efforts to spur the development of non-solar renewable energy resources under 20 megawatts in nameplate capacity. Of special interest are systematic, replicable, and scalable approaches to helping potential project proponents identify, evaluate, and develop new generation sources. For example, in recent years Energy Trust has found success identifying and assisting the development of small-scale hydropower projects through our support of and collaboration with Farmer Conservation Alliance’s Irrigation Modernization efforts. If you have an idea, innovative business model, or capacity to develop new customers and/or catalyze new markets for renewable energy projects, please contact us.

Customer Supported Renewables (a.k.a. Green Tariff) Planning Assistance

In response to HB 2021, Energy Trust is assessing how to support government entities (city, county, irrigation district, ditch improvement, water control district, or government of a federally recognized Indian tribe in Oregon) to help them determine how retail electricity consumers within the boundaries of the government could be served by energy from community-based renewable resources that provide community co-benefits. For more information, please contact Kesean Coleman at Kesean.coleman@energytrust.org.

If you have a question about a project’s eligibility, additional funding sources available for distributed renewable and energy resilience projects, or would like a copy of an application, please contact Joshua Reed at joshua.reed@energytrust.org, or 503.445.2954.

Questions about individual projects will be answered by staff confidentially.