Oregon regulators announced EDP Renewables North America has filed a notice of intent to apply for a permit to construct a 60-MW solar photovoltaic project near Lakeview, Ore.

The Oregon Department of Energy announced on Feb. 14 that it estimates that EDP subsidiary Blue Marmot Solar Park will submit an application by April for a site certificate from the state Energy Facility Siting Council for the 5,170-acre Blue Marmot Solar Energy Facility, The EDP - Energias de Portugal SA subsidiary plans to begin construction by February 2020, pending issuance of the state site permit.

Related facilities would include 34.5-kV collector lines, proposed 10-acre north and central substations, and one or two 115-kV overhead generation-tie transmission lines within the site boundary in Lake County, Ore. The collector lines would feed into the central substation.

The solar park would encompass up to five separate solar array sites with individual names: Duvaroo, Deniz East, Reish, Parmelee and Deniz West. The footprint of the solar arrays will be considerably smaller than the total acreage of the facility, which will encompass the five solar array sites, north and central substations, point of interconnection, alternative locations for 34.5-kV collector lines, and study areas for siting the 115-kV overhead generation-tie transmission lines and access road to the Parmelee solar array site.

The project would be located within Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary PacifiCorp's balancing authority and interconnect with PacifiCorp's 115-kV Chiloquin to Alturas transmission line, according to a notice of intent the developer filed in January. Depending on the volume and phasing of capacity ultimately built at the Duvaroo solar array site, a second approximately 6-mile-long, 115-kV overhead generation-tie transmission line may be needed to connect the proposed north substation at the Duvaroo solar array site to the point of interconnection with PacifiCorp's system.

PacifiCorp has planned to install a new switchyard at the point of interconnection to serve another project but will accommodate the Blue Marmot project as well, according to the solar developer.

The solar project would be located on in an area of irrigated farmland, shrubs and wetlands with developed right-of-way.