ODOE at 50: Oregon Solar History
2025 marks 50 years of Oregon Department of Energy public service. As we continue leading Oregon to a safe, equitable, clean, and sustainable future for the next 50 years (and beyond!), we’re taking time to look back and reflect on what got us here.
In 1883, inventor Charles Fritts created the first solar cell, made of selenium and gold. While it didn’t produce a significant amount of energy, it was still the kick-start for developing solar photovoltaic panels to produce renewable energy in the United States. Oregon had been a state for just 24 years at the time. More than a century later, Oregon has its own history of investing in and supporting solar energy. Some highlights from the past 50 years:
1970s
ODOE’s incentive programs have supported solar on Oregon homes since the 1970s.
The Oregon Department of Energy’s Residential Energy Tax Credit and Business Energy Tax Credit programs launch, creating opportunities for homeowners and commercial property owners to receive state tax credits for investing in renewable solar. The programs continued to run until the early 2010s. Nearly 600,000 Oregonians participated in the residential tax credit program over its four decades.
1980s
The Oregon Department of Energy’s Small-Scale Energy Loan Program (known as SELP) launches, offering long-term fixed-rate loans to organizations and individuals to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, including solar. While SELP no longer offers loans, over its program life ODOE issued more than 700 loans for energy projects across the state.
1990s
The Oregon Legislature passes HB 3219 in 1999, requiring electric utilities to allow net metering so customers can generate onsite renewable resources, like solar, and reduce their electricity bills.
The Legislature also passes SB 1149 in 1999, directing Oregon’s two largest investor-owned utilities – Portland General Electric and Pacific Power – to collect a Public Purpose Charge from their customers. The PPC funds support energy efficiency, renewable energy development (like solar), and low-income weatherization programs throughout the state.
Located at the interchange of I-5 and I-205 south of Portland, the solar array developed by the Oregon Department of Transportation in partnership with Portland General Electric offsets about a third of the nearby freeway lighting.
2000s
The Oregon Department of Transportation and Portland General Electric develop the nation’s first solar highway project feeding electricity to the grid. Located at the interchange of I-5 and I-205 south of Portland, the solar array offsets about a third of the nearby freeway lighting. Its success inspired the French Prairie Solar Station in 2011.
In 2002, Oregon becomes the first state to install solar panels on its capitol building, providing energy for the lights that illuminate the Oregon Pioneer atop the capitol’s rotunda.
2010s
Between 2012 and 2019, ODOE’s Renewable Energy Development Program awards grants for energy projects – including solar – to Tribes, businesses, nonprofits, organizations, public bodies, and schools. Learn more.
Senate Bill 1547 establishes a new Oregon Community Solar Program in 2016, which allows customers of Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, and Idaho Power to subscribe to a portion of a community solar project and receive credit on their electric bills. The program fully rolls out in 2020.
In 2018, Oregon’s Energy Facility Siting Council approves the first state-jurisdiction solar facility. While that project ultimately was not built, today most of the facilities under EFSC review have a solar component. In 2022, the 50-megawatt Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility III became the first EFSC-jurisdiction solar facility to begin commercial operation.
In 2019, the Oregon Legislature creates a new program at the Oregon Department of Energy to encourage solar development. The Oregon Solar + Storage Program offers rebates for solar and solar with paired energy storage for homeowners and organizations that provide services to Oregonians with low and moderate incomes (low-income service providers). The program offers higher incentive amounts for low- and moderate-income homeowners and low-income service providers. While the program is currently out of available funding, as of April 2025, nearly 7,000 projects have received or reserved rebates in 34 of Oregon’s 36 counties. Projects have leveraged about $275 million in total project costs.
A community solar project in Ontario was the first constructed project supported by ODOE’s Community Renewable Energy Grant Program.
2020s
The Oregon Department of Energy launches the Community Renewable Energy Grant Program following passage of HB 2020 in the Oregon Legislature. The program supports renewable energy and renewable and resilient project planning and construction for Tribes, public bodies, and consumer-owned utilities – including renewable solar.
In 2024, Oregon is awarded an $86.6 million federal Solar for All grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to support renewable energy for low-income Oregonians. ODOE and its partners expect to roll out Solar for All-funded programs later in 2025.
As Oregon moves toward an equitable clean energy future, ODOE begins development of an Oregon Energy Strategy. The strategy will identify pathways to achieving the state’s energy policy objectives – and renewable energy like solar will certainly play a role!
Oregon Solar Through the Years
Check out the Oregon Department of Energy’s interactive Oregon Solar Dashboard to see how solar has grown and changed in Oregon from the mid-1980s through 2022. Oregon’s solar started in the residential sector and grew to include commercial solar in the early 2000s, and finally utility-scale solar emerging in the late 2000s.
