Joe Basile, community energy program manager at Wallowa Resources, makes a presentation on the county's microgrid project to the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners at the board’s Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023, meeting. From left are Commissioners Susan Roberts and John Hillock. Commissioner Todd Nash attended via Zoom.

ENTERPRISE — Wallowa County’s Community Energy Strategic Plan is nearing completion.

Joe Basile, the community energy program manager at Wallowa Resources, told the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners he’ll have the final draft of the plan in two weeks — Sept. 20 — and he’d like the commissioners to adopt it.

“Commissioner (John) Hillock is on the leadership team, so he’s aware of the process, but we’re pretty close to being done,” Basile told the commissioners on Wednesday, Sept. 6. “I’m here to ask the board of commissioners to adopt the energy plan as a standalone document residing with the planning department.”

He called the plan a “living document” that should be reviewed regularly.

“We’d like to update it on an annual or semiannual basis,” he said. “It will somewhat be rebranded as to what we’ll call it — an Implementation Advisory Group to implement and put in place.”

Basile also listed a set of guiding principals established for the plan that includes conservation, efficiency, energy resilience and security, local renewable energy development, financial benefit, environmental stewardship and social responsibility.

Wallowa Resources and the county kicked off the plan in August 2021.

They had their first leadership meeting in April 2022, so they’ve been on the project about two years.

One of the primary goals of the plan is to establish microgrids throughout the county.

Basile said the microgrids are expected to burn biomass in the Wallowa area, use solar power in the Enterprise area and hydropower at Joseph.

Commissioner Susan Roberts asked Basile what he wanted the board to approve.

He said that would come in two weeks when the final draft is completed. Approval would be by the board rather than the county’s planning commission.

“Hood River County did it a couple years ago, so we’d be the second county to adopt this kind of planning,” Hillock said. “Wallowa Resources also has been successful in getting some grants to work on this microgrid project and these are all dovetailed together. They’re doing some good work out there and hopefully some of the projects will benefit, like the little sawmill in Wallowa and possibly the (Wallowa Lake) Dam and some of the sidewalk they’re doing as well.”

Of course, the hydropower project at the dam will have to wait until it’s refurbished, which isn’t expected to start until fall of 2024.

The others, Basile said, could start anytime.

The plan stems

from action in this year’s Legislature. House Bill 3630 outlines plans for counties to implement an energy resilience plan. According to the Legislature’s website, the bill “directs the state Department of Energy to establish a program to provide assistance related to energy projects and activities to environmental justice communities.”