Championed by the nonprofit Oregonians for Renewable Energy Progress (OREP), our enabling legislation, SB1520, passed both the Oregon Senate and the Oregon House nearly unanimously and was signed into law on March 13, 2014. The bill allowed Oregonians to come together in cooperatives to finance renewable energy projects in their communities, without having to go through complex and expensive securities filings.
Oregon law already exempted certain cooperatives – agriculture, fisheries, and coops of mobile home park residents – from securities registration. SB 1520 simply extended that exemption to the category of renewable energy cooperatives.
Following seven months of rulemaking by the Division of Finance and Corporate Securities of the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, the Oregon Clean Power Cooperative was incorporated on May 6, 2015.
Since then, the Co-op and its members have used community investment and other financing sources to install solar on schools, churches, libraries, nonprofits and local government buildings throughout Oregon. Today, the Co-op provides Oregonians the opportunity to invest in solar projects, as well as to subscribe to or own solar panels in our Community Solar projects.