The US state of Oregon has granted final discretionary approval to the 1.2GW/1.2GW Sunstone solar-plus-storage project in Morrow County.
The Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC) granted the approval on Friday (6th December) and authorised the developer, Pine Gate Renewables, to proceed with construction.
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Sunstone is set to begin its engineering and procurement phase in early 2025 and start phased construction in 2026.
Once completed, Pine Gate said the project would be the largest solar and storage plant in the US.
Pine Gate said it is in discussion with local utilities and other potential customers for the purchase of the power produced at the site and its associated renewable energy credits (RECs).
The project has been approved on approximately 9,442 acres of private land zoned for Exclusive Farm Use, according to the Oregon state government website. The definition of Exclusive Farm Use in Oregon is less restrictive than it appears; sites are earmarked for continued agricultural use but other developments can be established with restrictions.
Pine Gate Renewables said it has worked with Morrow County and agricultural organisations in the region and will invest “over US$1,000” for each acre of the project into a county-managed fund to support the local agricultural economy and sustain Morrow County’s wheat farms.
“The recent unanimous permit approval is a testament to the way our team worked with stakeholders to provide a win-win for Oregon and the Morrow County community,” said Ben Catt, CEO of Pine Gate Renewables.
Pine Gate has a pipeline of 27 solar and storage projects in Oregon alone, amounting to just over 2.9GW of nameplate capacity. The company is operating in over half of all US states.
A report from Mercom Capital found that Pine Gate received the most venture capital (VC) funding of any company in the solar sector during the first nine months of 2024: a US$650 million investment from Generate Capital.
Sunstone is one among a number of very large solar and storage projects being built in the US. In July the 690MW/1,400MWh Gemini solar-plus-storage project from Primergy began commercial operations in Nevada, and the same month saw a 400MW phase of Doral Renewables’ Mammoth solar project begin producing power in Indiana. Once complete, Mammoth Solar will have 1.3GW of nameplate capacity.
