Clean Energy Blog
Stay up to date on the latest news related to clean energy in our region and beyond.
A Successful First Southwest Washington Energy/STEM Career Academy
18 high school students completed the first SWW Energy/STEM Career Academy hosted by the Center of Excellence and FWEE. Students spent 3 days immersed in the energy industry and learning about the many career opportunities available. Activities included a build your...
Energy Industry Workforce Growth and Challenges
USEER 2023 In 2022, the energy workforce added nearly 300,000 jobs- the increase leading to more that 8.1 million jobs in the energy industry. According to the Department of Energy's 2023 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER), clean energy jobs grew 3.9% and...
Yakama Tribal Project Selected by Department of Energy for Award Negotiations
Photo by American Public Power Association on Unsplash The Department of Energy's Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations has selected 17 community-driven energy projects over 20 states and 30 tribal nations and communities. As part of the Energy Improvements in Rural...
Oregon Coast Floating Wind Farm Areas Finalized
Photo Credit: NREL Offshore Wind Research After an announcement Tuesday, Oregon is now closer to commercially developing and producing offshore wind energy after the federal government has finalized two areas along the Oregon coast for floating offshore wind farms....
Fervo Energy reduces geothermal drilling time by 70%
Drilling operations at Fervo's Cape Station (Credit: Fervo Energy) Over the summer of 2023, Fervo Energy completed a 30-day well test at Project Red that confirmed the commercial viability of its drilling technology. Now, Fervo has published early drilling results...
Big News for EV Charging in WA State- Commerce Awards over $85 Million in Grants
Announced by the WA State Department of Commerce and Gov. Jay Inslee last week- the funds are going to nonprofits, electric utilities, tribes and public agencies and will build nearly 5,000 new electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in communities throughout the...
Details on How Power Generation Maintained Reliability During Cold Snap
The Pacific Northwest recently experienced a cold snap that brought below-freezing temperatures to the region for four days- increasing the area's energy demands. According to BPA, the area's load peaked at 11,396 megawatts, which is a modern era energy demand record...
PNW Center Of Excellence Hosted Governor Inslee for a Visit
The Center of Excellence hosted Governor Inslee, First Spouse Trudi, and partners at Centralia College on Friday, January 19th. The visit highlighted a number of clean energy workforce strategies, developments, and partnerships- including comments from partners on...
Viability of Using Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology- Caterpillar Demonstration
Caterpillar announced a successful collaboration with Microsoft and Ballard Power systems demonstrating the viability of using large scale hydrogen fuel cells as backup power for data centers. The demonstration was conducted in a challenging environment: 6,086ft above...
DOE Announces $30 Million in Funding to Integrate Cybersecurity in Clean Energy Infrastructure
The U.S. Department of Energy, as part of President Biden's Investing in America agenda, announced an initiative to ensure cybersecurity is integrated in the development of clean energy. The funding opportunity will support research, development, and demonstration of...