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Portland General Electric is building three major power-generating facilities in Oregon and Southeast Washington as it tries to meet a renewable portfolio requirement and demand from its growing customer base.

Projects include a $300 million natural gas plant at Port Westward near Clatskanie, a $450 million natural gas facility near Boardman and a $500 million wind farm in Columbia County, Wash., near the Oregon border, PGE spokesman Steve Corson said.

The requires large utilities to provide 15 percent of their power from renewable resources by 2015, 20 percent by 2020 and 25 percent by 2025, Corson said.

“This is going to get us to that 15 percent level,” Corson said of the current projects. “There could be additional projects on the way – we’re just not quite there yet.”

Near Boardman, foundation work is under way for the Carty Generating Station – a 440-megawatt, high-efficiency, natural gas-fired facility next to an existing coal-fired plant. The project, which will involve up to 500 construction workers at its peak, is being built by Abeinsa, an affiliate of Spain-based Abengoa. The plant is expected to go online by 2016, according to PGE.

At Port Westward, PGE is working with Overland Park, Kan.-based Black & Veatch and Portland-based Harder Mechanical Contractors to build a 220-megawatt, natural gas-fired plant next to an existing facility. Eventually, the plant will be used during peak demand periods or when renewable energy sources are limited, Corson said.

In Dayton, Wash., Broomfield, Colo.-based RES Americas is building the 267-megawatt Tucannon River Wind Farm, which will support 300 construction jobs at its peak, Corson said. The contractor will begin installing 116 wind turbines later this month. The plant is expected to go online before April 2015, he said.

“Bonneville Power Administration is building the transmission lines, which will allow us to connect the wind farm to the grid and bring the power home,” he said.