An Omaha, Neb., company has applied to the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council to build a 200-megawatt battery storage system on about 16 acres zoned for agriculture in Skagit County in northwest Washington.

Tenaska proposes to lease parcels from two private landowners for the Goldeneye Energy Storage project on the eastern outskirts of Sedro-Woolley, about 70 miles north of Seattle.

Lithium-ion batteries would be connected by an underground transmission line to a Puget Sound Energy substation less than half a mile away, according to the company’s application.

The batteries would be charged with surplus energy and discharged when the demand for electricity was high, but wind and solar power production was low, helping prevent blackouts, according to the application.

Puget Sound Energy must provide interconnection to any customer who meets technical and safety requirements, Melanie Coon, a spokeswoman for the investor-owned utility, said in an email.

The utility has no agreement and is not currently in negotiations to take power from the project, she said.

The batteries could supply power for 200,000 homes, the application states. Lithium-ion batteries generally provide electricity for four hours, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Tenaska, which calls itself one of the country’s larger privately owned energy-related companies, applied under the name Goldfinch Energy Storage LLC. Efforts to obtain further comment from the company were unsuccessful.

Tenaska is the first company to apply to EFSEC to build a stand-alone battery energy storage system. Other battery facilities have been proposed as part of wind or solar projects in Eastern Washington.

Tenaska’s proposal is also the only project in Western Washington currently under review by EFSEC. The council has not recommended to a governor an energy project west of the Cascade Range since 2001.

So far, only Eastern Washington’s landscape has been changed by renewable energy developers attracted by the state’s commitment to phase out electricity generated by natural gas and coal.

Tenaska has scouted other locations west of the Cascades. Proposals to place batteries in the King County cities of Covington and Renton stirred local opposition, according to media reports.

The Goldeneye project is the first time the company has applied to EFSEC, which can preempt local land-use laws.

According to Tenaska, the project’s key property would be a 14-acre privately owned parcel. Buildings take up half the land, leaving 7 acres for agriculture, according to the application.

Tenaska looked for land not zoned for agriculture and found one site close to the substation. The landowner was not interested in selling or leasing, according to the application.

The project is expected to last 20 years.

EFSEC holds hearings and takes comments on projects. No hearing has been scheduled yet.