Energy Production
Primary Energy Production and Electricity Generation
Energy production focuses on primary and secondary energy produced in Oregon. Primary energy represents energy that is collected from Oregon’s natural resources — it does not include energy that is imported for consumption or electricity generated in Oregon. Secondary energy is consumed in real time, like electricity, or may be stored for later use, like wood pellets. This section includes consumption data and energy production context — such as how much of the electricity generated in Oregon comes from hydroelectric, wind, and solar compared to imported natural gas.
The chart below shows primary energy production in Oregon in 2020. Almost all the solar, wind, geothermal, and hydro primary energy is converted to secondary energy as electricity. Some of the biomass is used to make a variety of renewable fuels and some is combusted to produce heat and electricity.
Trends and Potential
In 2021 the Oregon Legislature strengthened the state’s clean energy goals, which will transform the makeup of energy facilities in Oregon. House Bill 2021 requires electric companies to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with serving retail electricity customers by 80 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2040 from a 2010-2012 average baseline.2 Meeting this standard will require unprecedented development of renewable energy facilities over the next 20 years. Although PGE and PacifiCorp, with oversight from the OPUC, will determine the specific mix of electricity-generating technologies to meet their customers’ demands, one 2021 study identified the need to develop 10,000 MW of new solar capacity and 20,000 MW of new offshore wind capacity to meet the state’s 100 percent carbon free electricity target.3 PGE and PacifiCorp are required to submit Clean Energy Plans (CEPs) to the OPUC.
Oregon’s Electric Facilities
There are 459 utility-scale generators in Oregon that provide electricity for homes and businesses throughout the Pacific Northwest.1 These facilities use a variety of resources, including hydroelectric, natural gas, wind, solar, biomass, municipal waste, landfill gas, and geothermal resources. Hydropower makes up 40 percent of the energy consumed in Oregon, followed by natural gas at 21 percent and wind at 11 percent.
The dashboard of Oregon at below shows where electricity generation sites are in the state. Facilities owned by Oregon utilities are included, as are third-party owned facilities, which can contract with utilities to provide power to Oregon consumers or sell their electricity on the open energy market. Note that the color of the circles corresponds to the resource used to generate electricity (see below), and the size of the circle is in relation to generation capacity of that facility.
