Portland General Electric announces opening of Wheatridge wind farm in Oregon
Commercial power generation has begun at the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility in Eastern Oregon, Portland General Electric (PGE) recently announced.
Wheatridge is a 300-megawatt wind farm that 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 50-megawatt solar and 30-megawatt battery facilities will be completed by the end of 2021. Wheatridge is a joint project of PGE and a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources.
“Customers want and expect cleaner, greener energy sources,” PGE President and CEO Maria Pope said. “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 at the Bonneville Power Administration and Umatilla Electric Cooperative.”
This new facility will play an important role in achieving PGE’s recently established companywide goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. PGE’s wind generation portfolio now totals more than 1,000 megawatts of capacity from five owned or contracted wind farms in the Northwest.
“An important community effort like Wheatridge needs teamwork, and I’m happy to have teamed up over the years with PGE, Umatilla Electric, Morrow County, farmers like Jerry Rietmann and all the local officials to help this exciting Eastern Oregon project get over any hurdles,” U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said. “The latest good news about the wind farm part of this innovative renewable energy project will have huge benefits when it comes both to facing the climate crisis and generating good rural jobs.”
The facility is located just northeast of Lexington in Morrow County, Oregon. It features 120 wind turbines manufactured by GE Renewable Energy. Approximately 300 jobs were created at Wheatridge during construction, and 10 full-time employees will operate the combined facilities once all three components are fully commissioned for service. Power from the project will reach PGE customers in Portland and the north Willamette Valley via a new transmission line.
“Our long-term partnership with PGE has created family-wage jobs in our community and brought clean-energy innovations like the Wheatridge Energy Facility,” Ryan Neal, general manager of the Port of Morrow, said. “This makes our region more attractive, competitive, and desirable for residents and business.”
Swaggart Wind Power performed the project’s early development work as a wind farm. NextEra Energy Resources then purchased the development rights and, together with PGE, expanded the project scope to include solar generation and battery storage. PGE now owns 100 megawatts of the wind project, with NextEra Energy Resources owning the rest. NextEra will sell its output to PGE under 30-year power purchase agreements.
