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PGE tells Molalla council: plan together for growth, wildfire risk and batteries
Summary
PGE representatives briefed the Molalla City Council on regional growth pressures, wildfire-hardening options and battery storage, urging early coordination between utility planners and the city’s planning staff to avoid costly upgrades and improve outage response.
PGE representatives told the Molalla City Council on Feb. 11 that rising local demand, extreme weather and wildfire risk make early planning and coordination essential for the city’s energy future. The utility described storage, forecasting and vegetation-management tools it says help reduce outages and long-term costs.
PGE’s presentation, led by the company’s local government affairs manager Heidi Bell and a senior vice president for advanced energy delivery, laid out several reasons the utility wants closer working ties with Molalla’s planners: rapid local growth, changing load patterns from heat pumps and air conditioning, and infrastructure work needed to serve larger customers such as data centers.
The presentation noted PGE now has a little more than 500 megawatts of battery storage—about 10% of the system’s peak capacity—and three main battery sites in the region. The utility said batteries help shift lower-cost nighttime energy to daytime peaks and improve local resiliency. “So if there’s one thing you walk away from tonight, hopefully it’s thinking about we need to plan together and work together,” the senior vice president said.
PGE also reviewed fire-hardening options for distribution lines—shorter, lower-voltage lines that serve neighborhoods are the most vulnerable—and described measures the utility uses, including targeted vegetation management, pole and conductor upgrades, undergrounding where feasible, and last-resort public-safety power shutoffs when wildfire risk is extreme. The utility said new AI-powered cameras that detect smoke have shortened times to initial response by about one to four hours compared with relying on public calls.
On customer affordability, PGE outlined an income-qualified bill program. The company said about 943 Molalla households are enrolled and roughly 1,600 households are eligible, noting the program’s outreach and the potential to include enrollment details in municipal communications. “We’ve done newsletters and billing notices, and we’d be happy to share materials to help reach eligible customers,” Heidi Bell said.
Councilors raised questions about locating upgrades to support industrial development south of town and whether PGE can help with outreach and permitting. PGE urged early developer contact so engineers can estimate upgrades and avoid surprise bills that can discourage investment.
The presentation closed with an offer to host city staff at PGE’s integrated operations center and to hold quarterly planning meetings, and council members thanked the presenters for the briefing. No council action was required; staff were encouraged to keep lines of communication open.
The utility presentation began in the work session and the council followed up with questions during the regular meeting. The council did not take any formal action on PGE recommendations at this session.
