Oregon opens the first solar-wind-battery power plant in North America

(SEPTEMBER 30, 2022) Solar power makes electricity from sunlight. Wind power makes electricity from wind. Now, a new power plant in Oregon combines these energy sources with enormous batteries -- enough to power a small city. And it's the first of its kind in North America.

The power plant opened this week. Its name is Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility. It is near Lexington, Oregon, about three hours east of Portland.

The combination of power sources works well to provide a continuous source of energy. When there isn't much sunlight or wind, the batteries can continue to deliver electricity.

“If the solar is chugging along and cloud cover comes over, the battery can kick in and make sure that the output is uninterrupted. As the sun goes down and the wind comes online, the battery can make sure that that’s very smooth so that it doesn’t, to the grid operator, look like anything unusual," says Jason Burwen. He is part of an organization that wants more clean power (power that doesn't pollute the environment like oil and coal).

According to Portland General Electric, one of the owners, "As sunlight hits the solar panels, the photovoltaic energy is converted into direct current electricity (DC). The direct current flows from the panels through inverters and is converted into alternating current (AC). From the inverter, some of the emissions-free energy goes into a battery system to be stored for use at a later time while the rest of the energy travels through the power grid for delivery to homes and businesses. The facilities have the capacity to serve approximately 100,000 homes."

Oregon closed its last coal power plant earlier this month.