The Oregon Department of Energy said Sept. 27 that it was temporarily suspending the comment period on the proposed 380-MW proposed expansion of the Carty gas-fired power plant by Portland General Electric (PGE) (NYSE:POR).
The company brought a 440-MW gas-fired generating facility into service at Carty, located in Morrow and Gilliam Counties, this summer. The facility is already licensed for a second phase expansion that could bring the capacity to roughly 900 MW.
On Sept. 1, the Oregon DOE issued public notice of an open comment period and comment deadline of Oct. 17, regarding a site certificate amendment request submitted by PGE.
The requested amendment would add an additional 330-MW natural gas fired generating unit and a 50 MW photovoltaic solar unit; increase the nominal capacity of Unit 2; extend the construction commencement deadline for Unit 2 from July 2017 to July 2019; and, add additional related and supporting facilities.
Carty’s generation capacity would eventually expand to more than 1,300 MW and more transmission infrastructure would be added if the recent proposal should become a reality.
Then on Sept. 22, PGE formally requested a temporary suspension of processing the site certificate amendment request. In response, ODOE issues public notice of a temporary suspension of the comment period and comment deadline until further notice.
Following a request from PGE to commence processing of the amendment request, Oregon DOE will issue public notice re-opening the comment period with a new comment deadline.
The Oregon DOE contact is sarah.esterson@oregon.gov.
