Raleigh-based Pine Gate Renewables found fertile ground for a major clean energy project in rural Morrow County.
Planned for the stark sagebrush steppes south of Boardman is by far the largest solar project ever approved in Oregon, and possibly the largest solar project in the country. The Sunstone Solar project is expected to provide 1,200 megawatts of clean energy to the Pacific Northwest, with the first stage of construction scheduled to conclude in 2027.
The national mood under President-elect Donald Trump, who spoke against alternative energy throughout his campaign, could impact projects like Sunstone. But project manager Logan Stephens of Raleigh-based Pine Gate Renewables tells Oregon Business he isn’t worried.
“I see nothing but positivity for the future of our industry, especially in light of load growth,” Stephens says. “We’ve been in this industry for a long time, and we’ve seen a lot of political dynamics. Ultimately, we feel very confident in the trajectory of solar across the country.”
With potential to reduce the nation’s carbon footprint, solar power is today generated in all regions of the U.S., according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, which found that solar recently accounted for 63% of energy capacity added to the U.S. grid. The state of Oregon tracks more than 20,000 solar facilities that generate a combined 1 million megawatt-hours of electricity.
Sunstone Solar began with Gallatin Power Partners, which secured land agreements and initial permits for the project before selling to Pine Gate in 2022. The North Carolina company spent the past two years working to achieve site certification, which the state awarded last month. Stephens tells Oregon Business the process moved swiftly in part because no organized opposition emerged.
Undeveloped land along the Columbia River Valley has proven suitable for data centers and solar and wind facilities due to its flatness and proximity to transmission lines that feed the growing Portland metro area. The Sunstone site, once used in dryland wheat production, is considered marginal land with few effective uses. Arid and isolated, it lies next to the Boardman Bombing Range. Operated by the U.S. military since 1941, the range is still used by the Navy though it no longer drops live bombs.
Also nearby is the proposed Wagon Trail Solar Project, a 500-megawatt facility approved by the DOE in September. That project, which will be the state’s second-largest solar array, is so named because the Oregon Trail wagon route passed through the area.
Pine Gate is a national alternative energy firm with more than 100 solar facilities around the country, including several in Oregon west of the Cascade Mountains connected to the Portland General Electric grid. Solar energy projects used to only make fiscal sense in the sunniest parts of the country like the desert Southwest. But that’s changed over the past two decades as construction costs have decreased.
“Now we can pretty much build anywhere,” says Stephens, who adds that Morrow County south of Boardman is turning into a clean energy hub. “The main drivers really are transmission and being able to serve a load nearby.”
Named for the state gemstone, Sunstone Solar will generate far more than Wagon Trail — up to 1,200 megawatts, with storage capacity for up to six times that amount. The project will be constructed in six phases — 200 megawatts each — with each phase lasting 21 months. The staggered phasing will help the project team respond to realities of the market, and what BPA agrees to buy.
Flexibility was written into the project application in other ways. One was battery storage. Battery storage sites are increasingly combined with solar arrays, especially in the West, so power can be produced and discharged in a manner most advantageous to customers, Stephens says. Lithium-ion batteries remain the industry standard, with well-established supply chains. Zinc-based batteries are considered less harmful to the environment but have less storage capacity than lithium-ion. Stephens says the team continues to evaluate the two storage options.
Nearly 15,000 storage containers will be required if zinc batteries are selected and approximately 12,000 containers will be required if lithium-ion batteries are selected.
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