Round Butte Dam, seen here, is part of the Pelton Round Butte dam complex east of Madras.

The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs have been awarded a $250 million grant by the U.S. Department of Energy to perform transmission upgrades at the Pelton Round Butte hydroelectric dam complex on the Deschutes River.

The funding will help the tribes — and their partner Portland General Electric — to expand the delivery of renewable energy to a wider swath of the state.

The grant to Warm Springs is part of a $3.5 billion federal program to fund 58 energy projects in 44 states to bolster the nation’s electrical grid, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Energy.

President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed in November 2021, is the source of the funding. Renewable energy projects were chosen to help the country curb its fossil fuel emissions. Some projects were chosen to help inject revenue into disadvantaged communities.

The grant will help modernize and increase the capacity of the Bethel-Round Butte transmission line, which begins on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation and delivers power to customers in the Willamette Valley.

“Upgrading the Bethel-Round Butte transmission line would serve to unlock access to renewable resources east of the Cascades to serve growing loads both east and west of the Cascades,” Jonathan Smith, the tribe’s chairman, said in a statement.

Portland General Electric provides electricity to roughly half of Oregon’s population and two-thirds of the state’s commercial and industrial activity. But its infrastructure is aging, and the current transmission line is over 50 years old.

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The utility said it needs to upgrade its transmission infrastructure so it can pull power from facilities around the region to make up for low energy production. That could mean pulling more power from wind turbines and less from solar power facilities when winds are strong but sunlight is low, and vice versa.

Portland General Electric said it’s increasing its use of hydroelectric power and other renewable sources of energy to end its reliance on fossil fuel by 2040.

The upgrade at the Pelton Round Butte dam complex will help improve the reliability of the electricity network and help to keep costs down, according to the utility that operates it. The grant will start a process that includes environmental and scoping studies, design, permitting and construction.

Last year, the confederated tribes, the Warm Springs, Paiute and Wasco tribes, increased their stake in the Pelton Round Butte dam complex from 33.3% to 49.9%. In 2036 the tribes can increase their stake to 50.01%.

Kevin Nordt, board chair for Warm Springs Power & Water Enterprises, described the project as a “game changer” for the tribes and said it can be a building block to help other indigenous communities in North America.

“To have this opportunity is a blessing,” said Nordt. “We will share our knowledge and collaborate wherever we can across the nation and up in Canada so tribes can move forward and capture benefits from resources they have.”

Just the facts

The Pelton Round Butte Hydropower Complex consists of three dams that produce around 500 megawatts of carbon-free electricity, enough to power 150,000 homes.

The complex is currently 49% owned by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and 51% owned by Portland General Electric.

The project, completed in 1964, backs up around 20 miles of the Deschutes River in Jefferson County.