Company known for building data centers eyes battery farm site in Eastern Oregon - Oregon Public Broadcasting
Copia Power subsidiary Sawtooth DevCo LLC has applied for a 237-megawatt battery storage facility near Irrigon in Morrow County, including a substation and transmission connection. The project is under review as the region faces rising electricity demand from data centers, while local residents have voiced opposition and Oregon has paused certain data center-related air and water permitting.
Copia Power is proposing a 237-megawatt battery energy storage facility on about 40 acres near Irrigon in Morrow County. The project would include a substation, switchgear and a transmission line connecting to the Longhorn Substation in Boardman. Sawtooth DevCo LLC, a Copia subsidiary, submitted the application in late September 2026, and the proposal remains under county review.
Morrow County Planning Director Tamra Mabbott said the facility could support expanding residential, industrial and data center demand, while city officials cited potential tax revenue and additional electricity supplies. Residents, including farmer Barrett Dash, criticized the development and other potential data center projects at a recent Irrigon City Council meeting. The proposal comes as Gov. Tina Kotek has directed the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to pause certain data center air and water permit work until July 2027, although DEQ said it had no current application record for the battery project and could not determine whether the pause would apply.