Not Only Texas Went Dark in February: After Storm, Portland, Oregon Tests

Texas captured worldwide attention in February when a devastating storm crippled the state’s power system. But at about the same time, and to much less fanfare, part of the Northwest struggled with similar issues. Portland, Oregon, experienced power outages because of severe weather that left about 200,000 customers in the dark, some for several days.

Beaverton Public Safety Center. Photo courtesy PGE.

The outage followed last summer’s wildfire-related public safety power shutoff in the Mt. Hood region, affecting about 5,000 customers near the mountain known for its outdoor recreation opportunities.

For Portland General Electric (PGE), the utility that serves Portland and the surrounding areas, the outages underscore the need for its new resilience programs that test utility use of energy storage situated on the premises of its customers. PGE created the pilot programs to help the utility respond to outages sparked by different types of disasters, including earthquakes, wildfires and storms.

Under two PGE pilot partnerships, the utility owns and deploys batteries behind the meter at customer sites, and the customers provide solar and other on-site resources to create microgrids. PGE has also launched a residential pilot program under which customers buy their own batteries — in some cases, at a discount — that can be aggregated and utilized by PGE.

“When we have customer sited energy storage, it can provide grid services day in and day out without emissions impact. And it still provides customer support in the event of grid scale outages,” said Darren Murtaugh, senior manager, grid edge solutions for PGE. “When the utility participates, it leverages so much more value.”