As the US electric grid strains under surging demand - from aging infrastructure and climate-driven extremes to the explosive rise of data centres – the urgency for resilient, localised, power solutions has never been greater. In this situation, Oregon’s landmark microgrid law, signed this summer by Governor Tina Kotek, is helping to improve reliability, cost control and energy independence by dismantling long-standing utility obstacles in both the public and private sectors.
Data centres now account for around 11 percent of Oregon’s electricity consumption, with expectations of continued growth pushing infrastructure and ratepayer burden to new heights. Reports confirm that costs to serve these massive energy users are increasingly spread across all consumers, contributing to rising bills - some up 50 percent over the past four years - and an alarming increase in utility disconnections. Western grid authorities likewise warn that new data centres are outpacing the region’s capacity to build a reliable energy supply and transmission.
Against this backdrop, microgrids are emerging as a foundational solution - providing energy security, autonomy, and resilience for businesses, municipalities, and government agencies. By generating critical electricity on‑site, microgrids immunise essential services (from wastewater plants to emergency operations) against widespread outages, while reducing dependence on the strained broader grid.
Distribution grid‑tied microgrids not only protect local users - they fortify the regional grid by smoothing demand peaks, reducing strain during extreme weather, and enabling flexible energy flows. Their decentralised nature mitigates systemic vulnerabilities in aging infrastructure and improves adaptability to evolving threats.
Oregon’s new framework stands as the first in the nation to explicitly authorise customers to “self‑perform” microgrid development - freeing municipalities, businesses, and agencies from utility delays or vetoes. This streamlines deployment, shrinking project timelines and unleashing resilient infrastructure investments.
Ashland‑based Stracker Solar is aiming to lead the new microgrid revolution, offering well-engineered elevated dual-axis trackers that can potentially deliver up to 70 percent greater energy yield compared to traditional fixed systems, while preserving the ground beneath for agriculture, parking, or community use.
Stracker collaborated on the creation of the first agrivoltaic microgrid in the United States at Our Table Cooperative in Sherwood, Oregon, thus its approach is already proven. Its innovative system demonstrated how elevated, dual-axis solar trackers can deliver both resilient power and productive farmland use on the same footprint. The proof-of-concept showed that the company’s elevated trackers and agriculture can thrive side by side while delivering reliable, on-site energy security.
Building on that success, Stracker has deployed municipal microgrids for the cities of Talent and Ashland, ensuring local resilience in the face of outages and wildfire risk. Beyond Oregon, a Stracker-powered microgrid drives an off-grid robotic dairy in California’s Antelope Valley, providing continuous, renewable power for a fully automated agricultural operation. Currently, the company is advancing a new project in Coburg, Oregon, where up to 12 “Strackers” will power a wastewater treatment plant microgrid, protecting emergency operations at this critical public facility.
“Strackers were engineered with microgrids in mind…for maximising distributed grid output and optimising microgrid placement” said Stracker founder Jeff Sharpe. “There’s simply no better way to mount solar panels.”
When the grid fails, microgrids keep essential systems alive - powering 911 dispatch centres, water treatment, cold‑chain logistics, hospitals, and more. For businesses, a big‑box store outfitted with 60 Strackers (1MW) and battery storage could operate entirely off‑grid: lights, registers, refrigeration - business continues uninterrupted.
With an increasingly vulnerable transmission grid and the explosive energy appetite of data centres, Oregon’s microgrid law sets a national precedent, which Stracker’s elevated dual‑axis microgrid systems is poised to take advantage of, delivering a more resilient, secure energy future for business, government, and community alike.
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