Oregon clears may for mega solar power project [Video]

State regulators have approved construction of a giant solar power plant — with a similarly massive battery energy storage component — in eastern Oregon.

Pine Gate Renewables, a North Carolina company, says it will break ground in 2026 on Sunstone Solar and build the 1,200-megawatt plant in phases over the following several years.

The Morrow County project’s scale would equal Oregon’s current total utility-scale solar generating capacity. Fully built out, it could produce enough electricity in a year to match the use of nearly 300,000 average Oregon homes.

The Pachwaywit Fields project in Gilliam County, at 162 megawatts, is Oregon’s largest operating solar array. But bigger projects than that have been approved by the Energy Facility Siting Council, including a 400-megawatt plant in southern Oregon and a 500-megawatt array right next door to the Sunstone site, which is about 15 …