A central Washington State county took a significant step earlier this month toward hosting the Northwest's largest solar power plant.

Kittitas County Commissioners voted 3-0 on Oct. 5 for a facility featuring about 145 acres-worth of solar panels installed on private forest land that had been logged. The $350 million Teanaway Solar Reserve will have about 400,000 panels and power about 45,000 homes.

"We are pretty excited to have the permits in hand for what will be the Northwest's largest solar project once we get this thing going," Project spokesman Matt Steuerwalt told KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio.

He said commissioners' approval is the final local permit developers need though construction will not begin until the county deals with unhappy neighbors' appeal filed last month.

Resistant environmentalists are seeking a more extensive environmental review.