On Sept. 9, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors tentatively approved a solar project in the Cuyama Valley that, when built, will be capable of powering up to 15,600 homes.
The decision was unanimous and comes about two years after First Solar signed a deal with PG&E to sell the electricity it would generate from two proposed solar power plants: one near Cuyama and one in Kern County. First Solar’s Cuyama project will eventually generate 40 megawatts of power from a solar array on 327 acres of property between the Cuyama Valley’s agricultural fields.
First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal, whose district includes Cuyama, said the project combines everything the county wants right now: renewable energy projects, cutting down water use and greenhouse gas emissions, and jobs.
“First Solar has been a model company. … The financial commitments they’ve made to the Cuyama Valley are incredible.” Carbajal said during the Sept. 9 meeting. “This is a win, win, win project.”
The farm is expected to generate as many as 200 construction jobs; a spokesperson from First Solar said at the meeting that the company has a track record of hiring 70 to 90 percent of those jobs locally. County staff estimate that the project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30,000 metric tons, and the solar array will be taking over fields currently used for agricultural, so the project will cut down on water drawn out of the valley’s overdrafted groundwater basin.
In approving the project, county supervisors also approved an ordinance amending the county’s land use development code allowing utility-scale solar facilities on up to 600 acres in the Cuyama Valley.
“The Cuyama Valley has one of the highest amounts of solar capacity with the least amount of resource disturbance in the county,” County Planner Kathy Pfeiffer said during the staff presentation.
The amendment allows for solar development on another 273 acres of Cuyama Valley land, although no other solar projects have been formally introduced to the county.
If everything goes to plan, the First Solar project in Cuyama will be the first renewable energy project completed in the county. There was an attempt to put a wind farm outside of Lompoc, but after years of work, the investor pulled out.
“We’ve approved two renewable energy projects, one was wind. … And it never saw the light,” Carbajal said. “I’m hoping that this one is thoroughly implemented.”
This article appears in Sep 18-25, 2014.
