Portland General Electric and NextEra Energy to develop US’s first major wind/solar/battery park
Portland General Electric Company and NextEra Energy Resources today announced plans to construct a new energy facility in Eastern Oregon combining 300MW of wind generation with 50MW of solar generation and 30MW of battery storage.
The new project, called the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility, will be the first of this scale in North America to co-locate and integrate these three technologies, creating an improved zero-emissions resource and accelerating Oregon's transition to clean energy.
"We're moving aggressively to integrate smart grid technologies and renewable energy to give customers affordable, clean, low-carbon energy," said Maria Pope, PGE president and CEO. "Wheatridge will be a model for integrating renewable generation and storage to cost-effectively reduce emissions while maintaining a reliable grid."
The new facility, combined with PGE's existing resources, will bring the company's wind generation portfolio to a nameplate total of more than 1,000MW (one gigawatt), available from five owned or contracted wind farms in the Northwest – enough power to serve the equivalent of 340,000 homes. The solar farm will be one of the largest in Oregon, while the battery storage facility will be the largest in Oregon and one of the largest in the United States.
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With the addition of these new renewable resources, PGE expects to meet about 50% of its customers' power needs with emissions-free generation.
"We're pleased to work with Portland General Electric on the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility, an exciting opportunity to combine wind, solar and energy storage," said Armando Pimentel, president and CEO of NextEra Energy Resources, the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and the sun. "This venture will allow PGE's customers to benefit from more renewable energy over more hours of the day and create substantial economic value for the communities that host this project, many of whom stand to benefit for years to come."
Power from the facility will be generated by 120 wind turbines manufactured by GE Renewable Energy, Inc. The wind farm will be located just north of Lexington, Oregon, in Morrow County. The specific equipment to be used at the associated solar farm and battery storage facility is still to be determined.
Wheatridge will provide up to 300 jobs during construction of the wind site and up to 175 jobs during construction of the solar and storage sites. Approximately 10 full-time employees will operate the combined facilities once they're commissioned for service.
