Power Lane County

Planning a resilient & sustainable electric grid.

Electricity-

You flip a switch, a light goes on—it seems simple, reliable, essential. But bringing electricity to homes and businesses in our county involves a complex system of electric grid infrastructure and minute-to-minute decisions made by players at all levels: from your local utility to government and regulatory agencies to entities responsible for making sure the grid stays balanced.

Most of Lane County’s electricity comes from hydroelectric dams, which do not produce carbon dioxide emissions the way that burning fossil fuels does. The electric grid is a complex, sprawling system vulnerable to natural hazards. It is a system that has emerged over the last 150 years to meet growing demand for electricity that continues to serve our needs today. And all of us depend on it for our daily needs, livelihoods, and comfort. Power Lane County is an effort to explore the system and identify opportunities to make it increasingly resilient and reliable into the future.

The purpose of Power Lane County is to explore ways to make Lane County’s electric grid more resilient and sustainable.

Power Lane County is a partnership between Lane County government, Lane County utilities, the Center for Rural Livelihoods, and three U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories. The purpose of Power Lane County is to explore ways to make Lane County’s electric grid more resilient and sustainable to support community resilience. It is funded through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy to Communities: In-Depth Partnership program, which includes three years of technical assistance from the national laboratories.

Project Tracks

Learn about the three Power Lane County project tracks: (1) Countywide, (2) Springfield Utility Board, and (3) Emerald People’s Utility District. All three tracks will include technical assistance from the U.S. national laboratories to perform analysis and implementation planning for specific resilience measures.

Education

Ever wondered how electricity is delivered to you? It seems simple. We plug in a device, and it starts to charge. It’s easy to take for granted, but the systems that make this possible are actually incredibly complex.

Engagement

Lane County is engaging utilities, key stakeholders, and communities in exploring ways to adapt the electric grid to support community resilience.

About Power Lane County

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What is Power Lane County?

Lane County—along with Springfield Utility Board, Emerald People’s Utility District, and the Center for Rural Livelihoods—was awarded funding and technical assistance through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy to Communities Program: In-Depth Partnership (E2C) to explore how to build a more resilient and sustainable energy infrastructure.

Power Lane County is a three-year project focused on exploring how Lane County’s electrical grid can be more resilient to ensure reliable energy services, especially in the face of disruption from extreme weather. Leaders in Lane County and researchers from U.S. National Laboratories are researching opportunities to adapt Lane County’s electrical grid to support countywide community resilience goals through distributed energy resources, grid upgrades, and grid management strategies.

DOE does not provide funding for specific resilience projects that may be generated through the Power Lane County planning process. By investigating opportunities for grid resilience, Power Lane County will identify and prioritize potential projects that Lane County could advocate for in future.

What are the goals of Power Lane County?
The goals of Power Lane County are:
1. Reliable and affordable energy service: Support Lane County utilities in continuing to provide reliable and affordable energy services to customers across the county.
2. Resiliency of existing infrastructure: Contribute to the ability of existing utility infrastructure to remain operational during natural hazard events.   
3. Community resilience during outages: Boost community resilience during outages by siting backup power for critical areas or building out other related energy support services.
4. Engagement and collaboration: Establish new and build existing collaborations across utilities, between the utilities and the county, and between the utilities, the county, and the communities they serve.
What are the project phases and timeline?

Power Lane County has three project tracks:
1. Countywide
2. Springfield Utility Board
3. Emerald People’s Utility District

All three project tracks will involve three phases of work conducted by the national laboratories: identifying needs and priorities, conducting technical analysis, and developing a path forward. Power Lane County kicked off in February 2025. The project will wrap up by February 2028.

What utilities are involved in Power Lane County?

Springfield Utility Board (SUB) and Emerald People’s Utility District (EPUD) are official project partners receiving funding and direct technical assistance from the national laboratories. Additionally, Lane County is seeking input from and engaging all Lane County electric utilities in the development of a scope of technical analysis for a strategy that will have a countywide benefit.

What is the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy to Communities: In-Depth Partnership?

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy to Communities: In-Depth Partnership program offers multiyear, in-depth technical partnerships that support communities in developing abundant, reliable, affordable, and secure energy systems. Community partners work alongside national laboratory staff to apply robust modeling and analysis tools and validate hardware in conditions that match communities’ unique contexts.