Join the PGE Smart Battery Pilot
Help build Oregon's clean energy future and earn cash rewards
Now more than ever, we need affordable, renewable energy systems that address the climate challenges we face as a community and that help make households more resilient during power outages. We need your help!
You can earn up to $40 per month and help build a modern grid that’s cheaper, cleaner and more responsive to our changing energy needs. Partner with us and be a part of Oregon’s clean energy future.
Always have power. A home battery storage system provides backup power in the event of an outage or emergency. That’s real peace of mind.
Get paid. Earn bill credits of up to $40 a month, every month, for joining.
Increase renewable energy. We’re adding more renewables like wind and solar to the grid, but we need a place to store all this clean energy. Connect your home battery storage system to the grid and help create a modern energy system that incorporates more low-cost, renewable power.
Your partnership is key. It takes a community to create an innovative, dynamic grid that’s powered by renewables and keeps prices low for everyone. Collaborate with us and get paid to help build the foundation for Oregon’s clean energy future.
The PGE Smart Battery Pilot is a research study to connect 525 batteries at customer homes to the PGE grid. Over a five-year period, we’ll learn more about the most efficient and effective ways to store power and further modernize our grid.
How the pilot works
If you already have a battery energy storage system
Click on the link that was emailed to you to enroll your battery
You’ll be contacted to schedule a quick on-site safety verification
Once the verification is complete, you’ll automatically start earning on-bill rewards!
Don’t have an enrollment link? Email smartbattery@portlandgeneral.com
PGE will manage charging and discharging the battery to store energy from the grid or provide energy to the grid. Batteries remain fully available to customers during a power outage or upon request.
If you don't have battery storage
Contact an Energy Trust of Oregon solar trade ally
for a bid on a battery storage system (and solar, if you like — it’s not required to participate in this pilot)The solar trade ally will guide you through the installation and connection with PGE
If you live in the Smart Grid Test Bed or are participating in Solar Within Reach
you may be eligible for a rebate on your system from PGE. Be sure to talk to your trade ally installerOnce your battery is installed and verified, PGE will send you an enrollment link to connect your battery to the pilot and begin earning bill credits
PGE will manage charging and discharging the battery to store energy from the grid or provide energy to the grid. Batteries remain fully available to customers during a power outage or upon request.
Get cash
You’ll earn cash rewards for participating in the program:
Earn $20 a month if your battery can only charge from your solar system. Earn $40 a month if your battery can charge from the PGE system and/or your solar.
Up to 200 Smart Grid Test Bed customers will also receive an instant rebate of $1,000 to $3,000 toward the cost of installing a battery.*
Up to 25 income-qualified customers will receive a $5,000 instant rebate toward the cost of installing a battery energy storage system when also participating in the Energy Trust’s Solar Within Reach program.*
PGE’s Smart Grid Test Bed
Three neighborhoods within Portland, Milwaukie and Hillsboro form the PGE Smart Grid Test Bed, helping our community rethink the way we use energy. The project aims to accelerate PGE’s vision for a clean energy future by partnering with customers in entirely new ways to decarbonize the grid.                  Â
*To receive a rebate the battery must be installed by an Energy Trust solar trade ally. The rebate will be reflected as a reduction on the final invoice, no checks will be issued to customers.