State’s largest solar project planned in Klickitat County

Portland-based Avangrid Renewables and Puget Sound Energy announced on Thursday a solar power project in Klickitat County that would be the state’s largest.

The Lund Hill Solar Project, as it’s called, would supply PSE’s innovative renewable energy product, Green Direct, which allows participants the ability to purchase 100 percent of their energy from dedicated, local, renewable energy resources, according to a news release.

“This is an incredible example of the public and private sector coming together to transform the trajectory of renewable energy in Washington state,” Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement. “This project will help us fight climate change, create clean energy jobs and save agencies thousands of dollars in energy costs. This is what Washington’s energy future is all about.”

The project would be built on 1,700 acres of private and public land in Klickitat County near the Columbia River, The Seattle Times reported last week.

The project would require more than 500,000 photovoltaic panels — providing a 150-megawatt capacity — to be spread on acreage now used for grazing cattle or put in a federal conservation reserve, according to a document the company filed with its project application in Klickitat County and an Avangrid spokesman, the Times reported.

The Times’ report said if the Klickitat County site produced power at the national average for photovoltaics, it could send electricity to more than 28,000 homes, according to an analysis by the Solar Energy Industries Association.