As members of the Clean Energy Transition Institute (CETI) community are well aware, 2025 was a deeply challenging year for everyone engaged in accelerating an equitable clean energy transition in the Northwest and throughout the United States.

We saw the complete reversal in federal support for a wide array of clean energy solutions that had the potential to bring multiple economic and climate benefits to many communities and industries. It was painful for the CETI team to watch so many promising nascent efforts go by the wayside and contemplate the lost opportunities for emission reduction, economic development, cleaner air, jobs, and healthier communities.

The shift in federal priorities impacted CETI directly with the loss of contract revenue we had counted on, which we shared with our community in the late fall. We sent appeals to existing and previous donors, as well as to newsletter subscribers, asking for support to fill our revenue gap.

You met these requests with amazing generosity and as a result, we exceeded our individual donor target by nearly $65,000 by the end of 2025. We saw multiple donors give twice and in one case, three times; one-third of our donors doubled or tripled their prior giving levels; and we had the highest return of lapsed donors in the eight years that we have been operating. Northwest-area foundations also came through for us in a big way, exceeding our foundation budget goal by $55,000.

On behalf of the CETI Team and Board, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this outpouring of support, which makes it possible for us to continue to provide high-quality, unbiased data and analytics in support of an equitable clean energy transition in the Northwest. Read on to see the details of how we spent the funds we received in 2025.

One final note: CETI’s Research Director Stacia Dreyer sent out a survey last Tuesday requesting input to help us assess our 2025 programs and projects. We take program assessment very seriously and want to hear from as many people as possible, so we would be very grateful if you would take five minutes to fill out our survey. By completing the survey, you will be entered into a randomized drawing to receive a $150 REI gift card.

See you next month,

Eileen V. Quigley
Executive Director

Project and Program Highlights

The CETI Team engaged in a wide range of projects across our program areas in 2025 as we worked to accelerate an equitable clean energy transition in the Northwest. Here is a wrap-up of how the year unfolded for us:

• Convened CETI’s second Decarbonization Forum, Data Center Energy Use and Impact on the Northwest Clean Energy Transition, in April that explored ways to address the impact of data center energy on the region’s electricity grid with a panel of experts and an audience of utilities, businesses, state agencies, and clean energy advocacy organizations.
• Released two pathbreaking SCALE 2030 papers in May—Clean Buildings Ecosystem Assessment for Washington and Clean Buildings Transition Framework for Washington—in collaboration with 2050 Institute. CETI and 2050 Institute are now developing a roadmap to decarbonize Washington’s building stock with our SCALE 2030 Roadmap Advisory Group.
• Engaged throughout the year on the Western Transmission Expansion Coalition (WestTEC)’s Regional Engagement Committee. WestTEC is a regional effort to develop an actionable transmission study for the West’s energy grid. For the release of the 10-year Horizon Report, join the public webinar on February 4, 2026. WestTEC is now hard at work on the 20-year plan.
• Managed the energy modeling, energy wallet, jobs study, and other analyses that underpin the Oregon Energy Strategy that was released in November 2025. The Oregon Department of Energy selected CETI in a competitive process to provide technical support for this work. You can find a recording of the December 17 public webinar presentation of the strategy here.
• Updated Energy, Utilities, and Jobs visualizations on the Northwest Clean Energy Atlas to reflect most recent data. These updates included adding a Northwest Electric Utilities Overview that features utility data for all four Northwest states and has become our most frequently visited visualization.
• Worked in partnership with the University of Washington to create The Sun Also Rises in Washington, a StoryMap that explores the benefits of community-scale solar and highlights existing projects throughout the state with a series of interactive visualizations.
• Engaged in three projects for the Washington Department of Commerce:
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  • Contributed to the Washington Department of Commerce’s Rural Clean Energy Economics and Community Engagement Study and Report released in January 2025, which CETI worked on with Ross Strategic throughout 2024.
  • Supported Western Washington University’s (WWU) Center for Economic and Business and Research on a Washington State Refinery Economic Impact Study released in February 2025 that assessed how the state’s oil refining market might change over time.
  • Project-managed Evolved Energy Research’s technical modeling for Washington’s Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP) submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency on December 1, 2025. You can learn more and stay updated here.

We Dove Deep. . .

Our 2025 Deep Dive series explored key issues that emerged through our programmatic work:

• Explained changes in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s approach to calculating the primary energy consumption of electricity generation from noncombustible renewables.
• Broke down findings from the Rural Clean Energy Study and Report that we helped produce for the Washington Department of Commerce.
• Gleaned key insights from our SCALE 2030 Clean Buildings Ecosystem Assessment, which examines Washington’s current building stock, energy use, and emissions.
• Investigated topics, challenges, opportunities, and best practices for establishing Community Benefits Agreements and Tribal Benefits Agreements, sharing results from a targeted literature review conducted for the Washington Department of Commerce.
• Explored characteristics of green banks, explaining the role they can play in clean energy financing.
• Explored trends in Northwest energy employment from the 2025 United States Energy & Employment Report.
• Featured our work with the University of Washington on The Sun Also Rises in Washington.‍
• Gave overviews of the three aspects of the Oregon Energy Strategy that CETI supported:
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  • Energy Pathways Analysis
  • ‍Complementary Analyses‍
  • Jobs Analysis

And We Demystified. . .

A core part of CETI’s mission is to demystify complex aspects of decarbonization and the clean energy transition in the Northwest. Here are the topics we explained in 2025 through our Demystifying Decarbonization series:

• Demystifying the Northwest Utility Landscape
• Geothermal’s Role in Clean and Reliable Energy
• Demystifying Data Center Energy Use
• Idaho: 2025 Energy and Climate Policies Recap
• Montana: 2025 Energy and Climate Policies Recap
• Oregon: 2025 Energy and Climate Policies Recap
  
• Washington: 2025 Energy and Climate Policies Recap
• Demystifying Electricity Resources and Emissions in Oregon and Washington
• Oregon’s POWER Act Addresses Ratepayer Impact of Large Energy Users
• The Ins and Outs of Siting and Permitting in the Northwest
• Moving Forward with Day-Ahead Markets
• Best Energy Podcasts of 2025

Take the Survey

If you have not yet filled out the survey evaluating our 2025 programs and projects, please take 5-10 minutes to fill it out and be entered to win a $150 REI gift card.

Take the Survey

We value your perspective, and your responses will help inform our work in 2026 and beyond. Your name will not be associated with your survey responses. We only ask for your name and email address if you wish to be entered into the raffle so that we can contact you if you win!

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