A huge crowd attended the signing ceremony for SB 838, which brings to Oregon the most aggressive renewable energy standard in the country! Next week the Governor will sign HB 2620, or the “solar on public buildings” bill, which requires that public improvement contracts for construction or major renovations of public buildings appropriate at least 1.5 percent of the total contract price for solar energy technology.

Another bill in the hopper is SB 375 which establishes minimum efficiency standards for a number of additional home and commercial appliances. SB 375 is still among a long list of bills that are waiting for a vote on the House floor. Once it has passed the House, it will then need to go back to the Senate for concurrence.

We are still waiting for HB 2876 and SB 576 to come out of Ways and Means. HB 2876 requires the Department of Energy to reduce energy consumption in existing public buildings by 20% by 2015 and requires new building projects incorporate energy efficient designs and SB 576 requires that major facility projects be planned, designed, constructed and renovated to meet sustainable building standards.

After passing the House with overwhelming support, HB 2211 and 2212, which are the Business and Residential energy tax credit bills respectively, have been languishing in Senate Revenue for two months.  We are expecting movement soon, possibly as early as next week.

Another bill stuck for almost two months in the House Revenue committee is HB 3488, which among other things had increased the Business Energy Tax Credit for residential hot water and business solar investments. HB 3488 was amended to remove the tax credit (which will now be moved into an omnibus tax credit bill).  What is left in HB 3488 is language that would encourage the further development of small-scale, onsite renewable energy projects in two ways: it would allow a utility to develop a program to provide financing for the installation of renewable energy systems with the approval of the PUC and it would facilitate a new financing model for private investors to develop onsite renewable energy systems.

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