USA’s Largest Solar & Storage Project Approved — Emission-Free Electricity for 800,000 Homes – CleanTechnica

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In an effort to meet strong renewable energy requirements, Oregon just authorized the largest solar farm in the state, and seemingly the nation. It is situated on around 10,000 acres of active farming in Morrow County. In order to counteract the detrimental effects on the local agricultural sector, the huge project also employs a unique strategy.

Sunstone Solar, the United States’ largest proposed solar project, has gained final discretionary permission from the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC). Permission was the final step in the state’s assessment and public involvement process, authorizing project owner Pine Gate Renewables to build the 1.2 GW solar and 1.2 GW storage project.

Sunstone Solar will have roughly 4 million solar panels capable of producing up to 1,200 megawatts of power — enough to supply emission-free electricity to about 800,000 homes for a year — as well as a battery energy storage system capable of storing up to 7,200 megawatt-hours of energy.

Pine Gate Renewables points out that “the first-of-its-kind initiative will invest over a thousand dollars per project acre into a county-managed fund for programs that support the local agricultural economy and improve the long-term viability and resilience of Morrow County’s wheat farms.”

“The fight against the climate crisis depends on a variety of successful energy solutions, like Pine Gate Renewables’ solar power and energy storage project in Eastern Oregon,” said United States Senator Ron Wyden. “This is just another example of the important federal investments I fought for in the Inflation Reduction Act, and I will continue to advocate for tech-neutral solutions in our tax code that promote innovation and efficiency in Oregon and across the nation.”

Sunstone’s initiative will put an immense amount of agricultural land out of production, Oregon Live adds. It will take up 9,442 acres on a 10,960-acre plot of private land about 15 miles southeast of Boardman. That’s around 7,000 football fields worth of space. The area has been used to grow dryland winter wheat and is classified for exclusive farm use. A third of the property includes water rights, and more than half is high-value farming.

The problems around renewable energy aspirations are in fact complicated. In order to meet Oregon’s ambitious climate goals, innumerable renewable energy projects are coming online. (Portland General Electric and Pacific Power, the two largest electric providers in the state, are mandated to cut greenhouse gas emissions related to power sold in Oregon by 80% by 2030 and achieve 100% emission-free electricity sources by 2040.)

Farmers and other rural supporters have criticized the negative effects that solar farms can have on local agriculture and farming-oriented economies, citing the loss of local farm-related income and the reduction of access to property.

Five years ago, Oregon limited solar installation on prime farmland in response to similar worries. In regions with the best soil for farming, solar panels are permitted on up to 12 acres, while in regions with poor soil and no water rights, solar farms may be established on up to 320 acres.

“Pretty much every solar facility approved by the council requires an exception because they just use more land than allowed by the rules,” Clark said. “In the past few years, most of the proposed facilities have been in the thousands-acre range.”

So, a loophole exists in these circumstances. They allow solar companies to seek an exemption to build even larger solar farms on farmland. They must demonstrate that the project has an advantage because of its location, would enhance the county economy, and would result in only minimal loss of valuable farmland, according to Christopher Clark, a siting analyst with the state Department of Energy.

This may be the most ambitious attempt yet. According to the state’s Land Conservation and Development Commission’s 2022-2023 Farm & Forest Report, 34 solar projects have received exceptions from either a county or the state siting council since 2011, accounting for the majority of the solar capacity and acreage approved in the state.

When it comes to the economic benefits of solar farms, they stretch much beyond the short-lived construction jobs or money paid to landowners for leasing lands, which are common in solar development. At the commencement of development, the developer will donate $1,179 per acre — or up to $11 million for the 9,400 acres — to a new agricultural mitigation fund established by Morrow County. The county will administer the fund, which will be used to assist dryland winter wheat agricultural operations.

As a former employee of an organic farm, I do not view this as an effortless change. However, the simple truth is that the time has passed since we had to remove the yarn from this skein of tangled wool because of climate change. Oregon and other regions have seen some of the effects of climate change, which are coming on strong and fast. As Oregon Live points out, Sunstone Solar will be among the largest solar farms in the United States, perhaps the largest. Still, its magnitude will pale in comparison to the world’s largest, which went online earlier this year in northwest China. The Xinjiang solar park covers 33,000 acres and has the capacity to generate 3,500 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than a million homes.

“As a lifelong resident of Morrow County, I’m excited for Sunstone Solar to move forward so the local community can benefit from the economic opportunities that the project will bring,” said Ken Grieb, a wheat farmer and landowner in the project. “Pine Gate has demonstrated how large energy facility development can be done thoughtfully and collaboratively.”

Sources: Pine Gate Renewables, Oregon Live