Pine Gate Renewables Receives Development Approval for 2.4 GW Sunstone Solar and Storage Project

Stoel Rives represented Pine Gate Renewables (Pine Gate) in the site certification process for its Sunstone Solar and Storage project in Morrow County, eastern Oregon. The combined 1200 MW solar and 1200 MW storage project will be the largest of its kind in the U.S. The Sunstone Project’s approval involved a rigorous evaluation by Oregon’s Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC) and extensive public engagement and stakeholder cooperation, including an innovative agricultural mitigation initiative that will invest in a County-managed fund for programs supporting the agricultural economy in eastern Oregon. The project will interconnect to the Bonneville Power Administration via the Umatilla Electric Cooperative system, with initial engineering and procurement beginning in early 2025.

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Asheville, NC, Pine Gate develops, owns, and operates utility scale solar and energy storage projects across the U.S. 

More than a dozen Stoel attorneys supported the project including Tim McMahan, Ariel Stavitsky, Heather Stewart, Merissa Moeller, and others who advised on project siting, land use, water, litigation, energy regulatory, and tax matters.

For more information see the Pine Gate Renewables press release and a story in Newsweek.