The SAGE Center in Boardman is now home to a Portland General Electric exhibit, expanding the amount of energy information available at the facility.
The utility and visitor center have been working for over a year to make the exhibit a reality showing the variety of ways PGE generates electricity and how that energy is distributed to customers.
Kalie Davis, SAGE Center manager, said the exhibit adds another dimension to the interactive visitor center’s energy information as well as another hands-on learning opportunity.
“Portland General Electric is a wonderful asset to Morrow County,” Davis said. “We are excited to partner with PGE to tell their diverse power generation stories as well as the impact PGE has on our community.”
The exhibit was fully funded by PGE and installed Jan. 7. Visitors can learn how electricity demand is balanced through multiple modes of generation, the energy required to run just one household outlet, and how electricity is distributed to customers.
Portland General Electric supports other exhibits throughout Oregon showcasing the utility’s history and its generating facilities.
“We think the SAGE Center is a really exciting facility and a great new resource for Morrow County residents and visitors,” said Brad Jenkins, PGE general manager of diversified plants. “PGE’s history in the Boardman area goes back decades now – construction started at our Boardman Plant in the late 1970s – and with the Carty Generating Station now under construction nearby, we expect to remain part of the community for decades to come.”
Jenkins said PGE also wants to help SAGE Center visitors understand how the utility’s facilities and employees in Morrow County contribute to the local economy and Oregon’s energy future. This exhibit also helps show how energy generation and distribution requires planning and balancing customers’ needs with the region’s economic, environmental, and public policy goals.
“We hope visitors to the exhibit walk away with a better sense of what it takes to provide reliable, affordable, responsibly-generated power to residential, business and industrial utility customers everywhere – all day and every day,” Jenkins said.
