A solar company is working on a 56-megawatt array in Crook County that could become the largest plant of its kind in Oregon when it’s complete at the end of the year.

SunPower Corp. recently broke ground on the Gala solar project, which will produce enough energy to power 9,000 homes and generate 300 jobs during the peak of construction, according to a press announcement from the Richmond, California, company.

SunPower is a solar company that develops arrays and provides components and panels for residential, commercial and utility projects.

The cost of the Gala solar project was not available.

Gala is one of five large solar projects, ranging from 34 megawatts to 56 megawatts, that Crook County has permitted since 2015. Only three other counties in Oregon have utility-scale solar projects in the works, according to a database maintained by the Portland-based Renewable Northwest Project, which advocates for clean energy sources. Boardman Solar, a 75-megawatt project in Gilliam and Morrow counties, is in the process of getting a permit, while Lake County has approved Lakeview Airport Solar, a 45-megawatt project.

The solar arrays could eventually generate much more property-tax revenue than the grazing land they tend to occupy, but Crook County officials don’t know whether all of them will be built, much less when, said Ann Beier, assistant planning director for Crook County.

“It’s sort of not news until they start breaking ground, in our view,” she said. “There’s a fair bit of speculation out there.”

Natalie Wymer, a spokeswoman for SunPower, did not respond to a question about which entity would buy power from the Gala project.

Crook County requires that solar developers have permission to tie into the electrical grid but doesn’t ask whether they’ve struck power-purchase agreements, Beier said. Generally, construction doesn’t start until a power-purchase agreement is in hand, she said.

In total, Crook County has granted permits for solar developers to build as much as 257.5 megawatts of capacity.

The Crook County Counsel’s office negotiates tax incentives on the projects, Beier said. Assistant counsel Eric Blaine said he could not remember whether Crook County had created tax incentives in the form of property-tax abatement for the Gala project. If an abatement agreement existed, he said, it might be subject to a confidentiality agreement.

The Gala project will connect to the Ponderosa substation via a 2-mile long overhead line, Beier said. The site is west of George Millican Road, 6 miles south of the intersection with state Highway 126, on land leased from a local rancher.

The Crook County Planning Commission granted a conditional-use permit for the project in December 2015, Beier said. The permit was granted to Aurora Solar LLC, which is operated by the energy company Avangrid. Avangrid later sold its rights on the Gala project to SunPower.

Avangrid and SunPower each obtained permits in January for more 56-megawatt projects, nicknamed Empire and Tango, respectively.

Crook County approved its first large-scale solar project in November 2015. Invenergy, working via Prineville Solar LLC, could build up to 55 megawatts on a site just outside Prineville.

EDF Renewable Energy received a permit in March 2016 for Ponderosa Solar LLC to build up to 34.5 megawatts.

All the solar projects approved in Crook County lie roughly between Powell Butte and the Crooked River.

In the case of the Gala project, the developer showed there would be no impact on agriculture, as there had been minimal grazing on the land, there are no water rights and no history of crop production, Beier said.

“This is dry, dry land,” she said.

Mule deer will lose locally designated winter-grazing habitat to the solar installation, Beier said. That loss was mitigated by having land set aside elsewhere, she said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7860, kmclaughlin@bendbulletin.com.