The facility can produce more than half of the power that was generated by Oregon’s last coal plant, which was demolished earlier this month, reported The Sacramento Bee.
Under the partnership, PGE owns one-third of the wind output and purchases all the facility’s power for its renewable energy portfolio. NextEra, which developed the site and operates it, holds two-thirds of the wind output and all of the solar output and storage, according to a press release.
Integrating wind, solar, and battery storage at such a massive scale
Though interest in solar-plus-battery projects has increased in the U.S. due to robust tax credits and the plummeting price of batteries, the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility in Lexington is the first in the U.S. to combine integrated wind, solar, and battery storage at such a large scale in one location. This gives it the flexibility to generate continuous output that can be released to the electric grid on demand without depending on fossil fuels.
Because of their opposite power hours, solar and wind energy work hand-in-hand. The sunniest and warmest hours are during the day, and the wind tends to be strongest at night. Here, battery storage is key as it bolsters the intermittency of solar and wind energy, harnessing energy on demand.
The US’ first wind-solar-battery project is now online and can power around 100,000 homes
