Outage Map
Brad Wilson
Central Oregon continues to experience exponential growth, significantly affecting Central Electric Cooperative’s (CEC) service territory. In the past 5 years, the co-op has witnessed a 10.5% increase in new services and has projected another 10% increase over the next 5 years.
To manage our continuing growth, your board of directors and management team have invested considerable time exploring and pursuing ways to maintain safe, clean, and affordable electricity for CEC members while updating and enhancing our electric system and delivering increased capacity and resiliency.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Resilience and Innovative Partnerships Program is 1 potential funding source. This spring, CEC applied for 1 of its grants to help fund a planned infrastructure project, primarily in Crook County.
If selected, the GRIP funds could provide up to $23.6 million to update 16.3 miles of existing transmission lines and build an additional 4 miles of new transmission lines to increase capacity, upgrade hardware, replace wooden poles, and build a new substation.
Updating the transmission lines will better serve members from east Redmond to Prineville’s fast-growing communities and further east to Post in various ways.
Replacing wooden poles with metal poles, adding static wire—wire for grounding lightning strikes—and installing new hardware will make those lines more resilient while providing a redundant delivery point for 9 existing substations, ensuring fewer outages during extreme weather events, including lightning storms. The infrastructure upgrades would also make the system more resilient against wildfires.
In the long term, the project should provide more significant economic opportunities for the area as it aligns with Bonneville Power Administration’s commitment to expand its infrastructure and increase capacity in Central Oregon.
Over the years, manufacturing, data centers, and other businesses with high energy needs have considered the Prineville area but opted to go elsewhere due to a lack of transmission capacity. Their large load demands could not be guaranteed or met in a reasonable timeline.
Last summer, BPA announced its commitment to more than $2 billion in multiple transmission substation and line projects and plans to expand an existing substation and build a new 1 in the Prineville area. Combined with CEC’s upgraded transmission line, additional capacity in the area will support continued economic development in Prineville and Central Oregon.
U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have written a letter supporting our application to the Department of Energy. The application has received broad and diverse community support from business, civic, and community groups.
We expect the Department of Energy to let us know by the end of the year if CEC will be awarded this grant opportunity. If we hear sooner or receive any news before then, we will let you know on this page.
I want to assure you we are doing all we can to maintain the level of service you are accustomed to, including exploring and pursuing viable options to deliver you safe, reliable, and clean energy.
President and CEO Brad Wilson