Grant County PUD Commissioners unanimously approved two, 20-year power-purchase agreements with Royal Slope LLC.
One is for energy from a soon-to-be constructed 260-megawatt solar energy project near Wanapum Dam. The other is for the project’s 1,040-megawatt-hour battery storage.
Both contracts begin no earlier than March 31, 2028. Commissioners received a full report about these contracts at their Oct. 14 meeting. Both contracts help Grant PUD reach its state clean-energy goals.
Cost for the energy generated from the solar was within the requested range of $65 to $75 per megawatt-hour and the battery capacity was also within the requested range of $14 to $16.50 per kilowatt month.
Royal Slope Solar LLC is a subdivision of Clearway Energy Group, an energy developer with more than 350 projects across the country, according to the company website.
Clearway on Oct. 30 noted that Grant PUD’s 2024 Integrated Resource Plan identified near-term energy and capacity needs to meet the utility’s reliability requirements and the State of Washington’s carbon goals.
The power purchase and energy-storage agreements with the services provided by Clearway at its Royal Slope Energy Center will support Grant PUD in meeting its near-term targets for both solar and battery storage by 2028 and moves the utility closer to meeting its power-acquisition needs through 2030.
“We are excited to have this partnership with Clearway,” said John Mertlich, General Manager and CEO of Grant PUD. “The Royal Slope Energy Center, with its solar generation and storage capacity to match, will help provide for the increasing power demands of our customers and meet our evolving resource adequacy requirements.”
The project will hook into the Bonneville Power Administration’s transmission line, connecting to the project via Bonneville’s Columbia and Grant PUD’s Rocky Ford substations.
The project is forecasted to generate an estimated $130 million in state and local taxes supporting first responders, education, and other public services. Over 325 union laborers will contribute to the project’s construction.
Royal Slope is expected to reach commercial operation by the end of 2027
Royal Slope Solar LLC was one of 82 proposals received through Grant PUD’s request for proposals in 2023 to ensure a stable energy supply for Grant PUD customers now and into the future while complying with the state requirements to eliminate carbon-caused pollution from the state’s energy supply by 2045.
That request also yielded power-purchasing agreements with two other solar firms – the 80-megawatt Goose Prairie Solar in the Yakima area and the proposed 120-megawatt Quincy Solar on land near the Ephrata Municipal Airport.
