The Wheatridge Renewable Vitality Facility makes use of a mix of wind, photo voltaic and battery storage know-how. Portland Common Electrical
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A primary-of-its-kind venture, the Wheatridge Renewable Vitality Facility in Morrow County, Oregon is the primary utility-scale energy plant in North America that mixes wind and photo voltaic vitality and battery storage in a single location.
The venture is a significant milestone for utility firm Portland Common Electrical, which should scale back emissions of vitality equipped to customers by 80% earlier than the top of the last decade following a 2021 state legislation. The venture was developed by NextEra Vitality Assets.
“With the Wheatridge venture, we’re accelerating Oregon’s transition to scrub vitality and displaying the nation what the way forward for renewable vitality appears to be like like,” stated Maria Pope, PGE president and CEO.
The ability plant contains 300 megawatts (MW) wind energy, 50 MW photo voltaic, and 30 MW battery capability, which collectively may meet the vitality demand of about 100,000 households, GreenBiz reported. The renewable energy venture is already setting an instance, as there are a minimum of 9 related hybrid renewable energy vegetation within the works, a few of that are additionally developed by NextEra Vitality.
The ability contains 120 wind generators, together with a mixture of 2.3-megawatt and a couple of.5-megawatt machines, and has one of many largest photo voltaic vegetation within the state. The battery storage facility of this venture is without doubt one of the largest within the nation. The mixture of those renewable sources can enhance vitality reliability, based on Portland Common Electrical. Wind and photo voltaic know-how generates vitality — with photo voltaic panels working through the day and wind generators working optimally in a single day for regular vitality stream — and the battery storage system shops it to be used any time, even on days that aren’t windy or sunny.
“Bringing wind, photo voltaic and vitality storage collectively at one website is kind of a major second for renewable applied sciences,” Rebecca Kujawa, president and CEO of NextEra Vitality Assets, stated in a press release. “These amenities generate low-cost, homegrown vitality and can present hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in extra tax income to Morrow County over the lifetime of the venture.”
Portland Common Electrical owns 100 MW of the wind facility. A subsidiary of NextEra Vitality Assets owns and operates 200 MW of the wind facility and all the photo voltaic and battery capacities and can promote its output by way of 20- and 30-year energy buy agreements. In response to the Wheatridge Renewable Vitality Facility factsheet, the venture additionally supplies landowner funds and doesn’t intrude with agriculture use of the land.
The Wheatridge venture replaces Portland Common Electrical’s final coal energy plant, which shuttered in October 2020.
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