Portland General Electric Company (PGE) has procured 400 megawatts of new battery-storage projects to help shore up Oregon’s energy grid. This is the largest single procurement of standalone energy storage to date by a utility in the United States outside the state of California.
PGE said the battery-storage projects are designed to address several grid challenges and deploy stored energy quickly during extreme weather events or instances of high demand, reducing dependence on energy markets and fossil-fuel generation.
The projects include Seaside, a 200-megawatt facility located in North Portland and, and Troutdale, a 200-megawatt facility. Both will be owned and operated by NextEra Energy Resources and will be developed by Eolian. The Troutdale project is expected to begin service by the end of 2024, and PGE will purchase the output from a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources through a 20-year storage-capacity agreement.
The projects, located at substations close to electrical demand, will provide enough emissions-free electricity to power about 260,000 homes for four hours during times of typical peak demand.
“Battery storage is an important component of the clean-energy economy,” said Maria Pope, CEO and president at PGE. “These new Oregon-based projects are a significant addition to our wind, solar and hydro resources — providing grid reliability, resiliency and flexibility while helping us manage costs.”