PORTLAND, Oregon — Portland area colleges, nonprofits and companies have been pushing to make the state greener for years. Recently, Portland State University received federal aid to help achieve those goals.
The federal grant for $500,000 will be used to create a plan to add clean grid-level energy storage.
Once the plan is finalized in 18-24 months, it could receive designation from the federal government, which could lead to tens of millions of federal dollars pinpointed toward Portland. That funding would help kickstart a sector to create clean energy storage.
"It is a very important problem, to get this energy transformation going towards renewables,” said Antonie Jetter, associate dean of research in engineering at PSU.
Portland State is leading a regional consortium of 23 companies, government agencies and nonprofits to pool resources and ideas geared toward clean energy storage.
Portland has a vast number of companies in the sector already, Jetter said. At the same time, there is a desperate need for more efficient clean energy storage, Jetter said.
The $500,000 in funding will be allocated to new ideas and finding gaps and issues in current ideas.
Already, PSU officials said they know there are too few people trained for green energy jobs, and too little supply of clean energy storage.
"There is not as much regional coordination as there could be to really move the needle very very quickly,” Jetter said. “And turn all this technology potential into jobs and economic growth."
However, if the PSU-led plan receives federal designation, it could lead to millions of federal dollars tabbed for Oregon to do just that.
“Portland State is in a position now to kind of redraw the center of gravity with some bold plans that can lift up the city and the state,” said Angela Jackson, PSU's director of industry and entrepreneurial engagement.
The sector could eventually lead to hundreds of high paying-jobs, and another major industry in Portland.
"Imagine a time a few decades from now, where it's one of the state's most critical economic engines," Jackson said.