PGE and NextEra power up renewable energy project
Portland General Electric Co. announced the start of commercial power generation at the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility.
Image source: T&D World
USA, Oregon: Portland General Electric Co. announced the start of commercial power generation at the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility.
Wheatridge is a joint project of the PGE and a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC. This new facility marks a milestone in Oregon’s acceleration to a clean energy future and will play an important role in achieving the PGE’s recently established companywide goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.
“Customers want and expect cleaner, greener energy sources,” said Maria Pope, PGE president and CEO. “This is an exciting step toward completion of this important resource and adds to our growing wind generation portfolio. We deeply appreciate the partnerships that make the Wheatridge project possible, with NextEra and with the transmission services teams.”
Wheatridge will be one of the first large-scale energy facilities in the United States to combine wind, solar, and battery storage resources at a single location. The 300 MW wind farm is now complete and delivering power to PGE customers. The 50 MW solar and 30 MW battery facilities will be completed by the end of 2021.
With the addition of Wheatridge’s wind farm, the PGE’s wind generation portfolio now totals more than 1 GW nameplate capacity, available from five owned or contracted wind farms in the Northwest — typically generating enough power to serve the equivalent of 340,000 homes. When complete, the solar and battery storage facilities will be among the largest in Oregon.
“Our long-term partnership with PGE has created family-wage jobs in our community and brought clean-energy innovations like the Wheatridge Energy Facility,” said Ryan Neal, general manager of the Port of Morrow. “This makes our region more attractive, competitive, and desirable for residents and business.”
The project’s early development work as a wind farm was performed by Swaggart Wind Power, LLC, an affiliate of MAP Energy. NextEra Energy Resources purchased the development rights and together with the PGE expanded the project scope to include solar generation and battery storage.
Power from the project will reach PGE customers in Portland and the north Willamette Valley via a new transmission line, constructed by Umatilla Electric Cooperative.
The PGE expects to invest approximately $155 M for its owned portion of the project.
Source: T&D World