Another Yakima County solar project to begin construction
Construction is set to begin next week at a solar energy project in northeast Yakima County, while another recently completed project may add storage batteries in the near future.
The updates were discussed Wednesday during the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council’s monthly meeting.
EFSEC staff member Sara Randolph told the board that construction of the 80-megawatt Ostrea solar project will begin Monday, Feb. 24.
The project near the Silver Dollar Café, just west of the State Route 24 and SR 241 intersection in the county’s northeast corner, was approved with the adjacent High Top solar facility in April 2023. Both are being developed by California-based Cypress Creek Renewables.
Ostrea’s plans call for 190,733 solar photovoltaic panels spread over 811 acres along SR 24.
Randolph said there has been no recent activity or planning regarding the High Top site, with a start date for construction on that project unknown.
The Ostrea and High Top projects are expected to provide power for a combined 30,000 homes.
They are separate projects because they will be served by different power lines: High Top by PacifiCorp’s Union Gap-to-Midway 230 kV transmission line, and Ostrea by Bonneville Power Administration’s Moxee-to-Midway 115 kV transmission line.
Goose Prairie update
The BPA Moxee-to-Midway line also will take power from the Goose Prairie solar project, located north of SR 24 about 8 miles east of Moxee and 12 miles west of the High Top/Ostrea sites.
Construction began in fall 2023 on the 80 megawatt Goose Prairie project. It began generating power roughly one year later and is now fully operational, said Nelson Jia, asset manager for developer Brookfield Renewable. The project site covers 625 acres.
“In December we transitioned from the developmental to the operational stage,” Jia told the EFSEC board on Wednesday.
The solar facility generated 2,657 megawatt-hours of power in December, an amount that more than doubled to 5,878 MWh in January, he added.
Jia said Brookfield Renewable could install a battery electric storage system at the Goose Prairie site. The company is in the feasibility stage of that opportunity and is working with EFSEC officials, he added.