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Results from the 2022 annual Oregon Community Solar Follow-Up Survey are available. As our Low-Income Facilitator, Community Energy Project (CEP) surveyed participants who are active in the program (“Active”), as well as a selection of participants who have been assigned to projects that have not yet started generating energy (“Assigned”).

CEP conducts surveys in order to gauge the success of the program and identify opportunities for improvement within the low-income carve-out. Surveys were conducted electronically and over the phone. View a summary of responses at the link below.

As of January 25, 2022, we are happy to announce the official opening of the second tier of capacity in the Oregon Community Solar Program in Portland General Electric and Pacific Power service areas. The Second Offering represents 98.59 MW of newly available capacity, including unallocated capacity from the Interim Offering that has been rolled over to the Second Offering.

The initial capacity tier of the Oregon Community Solar Program has officially closed. All project applications submitted for Pre-certification, whether new or on the existing waitlist, are now subject to the revised Program Implementation Manual (PIM) associated with the Second Offering capacity. Please visit https://www.oregoncsp.org/get-started/ to view updated 2022 bill credit rates for Tier 2 projects.

Staff contacts: 
Joe Abraham, [email protected], 503-428-0699. 

On January 11, 2021, the Oregon Public Utility Commission Staff approved of modifications to the Community Solar Program Implementation Manual (PIM).  

Key changes include:  

• Carve out eligibility  
• Revisions to PM and Subscription Manager Capacity Limits 
• Rules for Affordable Housing Provider Participation  
• Description of Remaining Capacity in the Initial Capacity Tier and Rollover Interim Tier Capacity  
• Delegation of Commission Authorities to the Program Administrator 
• Revisions to Certification Requirements 
• Clarifying Ability for Project Owner to Sign PPA 

Additional details of changes can be found here.  

Staff contacts: 
Joe Abraham, [email protected], 503-428-0699. 

Oregon Public Utility Commission Staff requests public comment on proposed modifications to the Community Solar Program Implementation Manual (PIM). These modifications are shown as redlines in the PIM. 

The docket posting of the redlined PIM can be found here along with Staff’s explanations of modifications.  

Stakeholders should submit written comments on the redline PIM by email to [email protected] by December 8, 2021. Staff will consider stakeholder comments in its final recommendations the Commission at a public meeting in January, 2022.  

Please email [email protected] to be added to the docket service list and receive notifications in the UM 1930 docket.  

Hello Oregon Community Solar Stakeholders,

The Oregon Public Utility Commission announces the following schedule for stakeholder review of proposed modifications to the Program Implementation Manual (PIM) for the Community Solar Program. This follows Commission Order 21-317 in which the Commission approved Staff’s recommendations for release of the remaining initial capacity tier (79 MW). Staff and the PA Team will introduce recommended modifications to the PIM for the next program phase. Stakeholders will have the opportunity to comment on proposed updates, which will be shown as redlines to the existing PIM. The schedule can be found below.

Schedule:

Date	Item
November 19, 2021	Proposed PIM modifications posted to the UM 1930 docket for public comment
November 19-December 7, 2021	Public comment period
December 7, 2021	Public comments due
December 30, 2021	Final PIM modifications posted to docket
January 11, 2022	PIM approved at Public Meeting
January-July, 2022	Rulemaking

Staff contacts:
Joe Abraham, [email protected], 503-428-0699.

Hello Oregon Community Solar Stakeholders,

On September 21, 2021, the Oregon Public Utility Commission staff approved a proposal expanding the Oregon Community Solar Program.

• Commission Order 21-317

Schedule:

Date	Item
July 16, 2021	Staff publish draft proposal for public comment
July 30, 2021	Written public comment on draft proposal due
Aug. 26, 2021	Special Public Meeting for Commissioners to discuss draft proposal and hear oral comments from stakeholders
Sep. 16, 2021	Staff published final proposal for Commission decision
Sep. 21, 2021	Commission decisions approves Staff proposal and expands the Program

The Commission approved the six major policy decisions:

1. Open the 79 MW remaining in the initial capacity tier to new projects in Portland General Electric (PGE) and Pacific Power (PAC) territory. 
2. Require a minimum of 50 percent of a project’s capacity be allocated to residential customers, inclusive of the minimum 10 percent allocated to low-income residential customers. 
3. Require a Project Manager’s subscription fee for low-income participants be set at least 40 percent below the bill credit rate. 
4. Set the residential bill credit rate for 2022 equal to the 2021 bill credit rate currently in effect and set the non-residential bill credit rate for 2022 at 90 percent of the residential bill credit rate. 
5. Add a two percent escalation rate to the PGE and PAC residential and nonresidential bill credit rates beginning after 2022.  
6. Carve out 25 percent of the remaining capacity for exclusive use by community-based projects, to be defined in the PIM, and apply policies adopted herein to any carve-out capacity from the interim capacity tier not yet allocated to pre-certified projects. 
   
   Associated revisions to the Program Implementation Manual (PIM) and the CSP rules are forthcoming. Stakeholders will be notified when the redlined PIM is available for review and comments.  

Staff contacts:
Joe Abraham, [email protected], 503-428-0699.

Oregon Community Solar Stakeholders,

On June 4, 2021, from 9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., the Oregon Community Solar Program Administrator and OPUC staff are conducting a public workshop to receive stakeholder input on the next phase of the Community Solar Program. Workshop information, including instructions for joining, are available at this link.

To prepare for the workshop, we are asking stakeholders to view our Program Snapshot and to consider the following questions and come prepared to share insights and opinions. The prompts suggest various program design ideas for consideration, but we encourage stakeholders to suggest other ideas that may not be listed.

If you are unable to attend the workshop or would like to submit written comments, we ask you to email your responses to [email protected] by June 3, 2021.

Oregon Community Solar Stakeholders,

On February 23, 2021, the Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC) adopted Staff’s recommendation to extend the 2020 Community Solar Program bill credit rates in PGE, Pacific Power and Idaho Power territories. The 2020 bill credit rates will be in effect for projects that are pre-certified within the remainder of the interim capacity tier or until January 31, 2022. The release of new program capacity will be subject to new bill credit rates.

Additional details can be found in OPUC Order 21-071.
Current bill credit rates for the interim capacity tier can be found on the Project Manager Resources page of the program website. 

Thank you,
Program Administrator

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Questions?
Contact the Oregon Community Solar Program Administrator Team at [email protected].

Oregonians can get the benefit of solar power, whether renting or owning

The Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) approved the first three projects to begin operation in Portland General Electric’s (PGE’s) service territory as art of the Community Solar Program at a public meeting on Thursday, February 11, 2021. Project subscribers will see their subscription charges and credits on their PGE electric bills as early as March.

The PUC approved the following Community Solar Projects:

• Dunn Road – A 1.8 megawatt photovoltaic project located north of Sandy in Clackamas County
• Mt. Hope – A 2.5 megawatt photovoltaic project located southwest of Molalla in Clackamas County
• Williams Acres – A 2.5 megawatt photovoltaic project located east of Woodburn in Marion County

“This is an important milestone to enable more Oregonians, regardless if they rent or own a home, to access solar generation through projects of their choice,”

– Megan Decker, PUC Chair 

For additional information about the Oregon Community Solar Program, including subscribing to one of the three approved projects ready for operation or numerous pre-certified projects under construction, visit www.oregoncsp.org or call 800-481-0510.

Read the PUC’s official press release here.
 
Please send your Oregon Community Solar Program questions, comments and feedback to: [email protected].

The Oregon Public Utility Commission recently approved Commission Order 20-387, which temporarily waives, for 12 months, the requirement in the Oregon Community Solar Program Implementation Manual that a Project Manager must subscribe 10% of a project’s capacity to low income customers prior to certification, and instead requires Project Managers to meet the project’s low-income subscription requirement within 12 months after project certification, or be subject to a penalty.

Per the Commission Order, PUC Staff requests stakeholder comment and feedback on the proposed penalty. The penalty proposal is linked here, will be posted to the ORCSP website, and will be posted to the UM 1930 docket.

Please send all comments to [email protected] no later than January 28, 2021. Be advised stakeholder comments will be posted to the UM 1930 docket and the ORCSP website.

Questions can be directed to Kacia Brockman, [email protected].

Thank you,
Program Administrator