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Some Valley Solar Projects Remain Stalled

location of 35MW solar project in Kings County under construction this summer, one of the few being built now.

Where They Are Building

The Central Valley has many pending utility-scale solar projects but only a handful are under construction this year. Encouraged by a state mandate requiring utilities to get a third of their electric power from renewable sources – interest in the past several years has been strong to build both large 20 MW and bigger projects and smaller”localized” projects from 1 to 10 MW solar projects in the sunny Central Valley.

It’s the larger projects that seem to be bogged down.Seems like it is harder than you think to save the planet from greenhouse gases.

Over the past two years solar developers have lined up in Fresno County for 40 conditional use permits on farm land but at midyear 2012, only 2 small projects, not owned by the utility, have gone to construction.

Looking closer, 30 of those 40 applications are still plowing through the approval process at the county, 2 have been withdrawn and 8 have their county approvals in place but face some other hurdles.

For those who can wait the process out – there are plenty of hurdles out there – including lawsuits from multiple sources..

One of the projects, Westlands Solar Farms LLC, an 18MW project near Huron, faces a lawsuit from the California Farm Bureau who sued the county over their waiver of the Williamson Act even though the county has some discretion in deciding when the waiver is appropriate. The CFB wants the county to approve solar projects only on marginal farmland.

“Just because the developer is waving cash at him and the county, we don’t think that’s the way the Williamson Act was meant to be administered,” said a CFB attorney last year.

The applicant and county say their land has less access to water than in past years. Some farmers ask why the state Farm Bureau would stand in the way of what a farmer wants to do with his own property?
Last month a judge decided to hear the case in October, a year after the suit was filed. The uncertainty has helped put other solar projects on farmland in limbo.

Likewise. a SunPower project near Santa Nella in Merced County faces criticism from both farm interests and environmentalists.

Lawsuits from farm interests are only one problem. Solar developers face appeals and lawsuits from a statewide labor group who has been accused of “green mail” – opposing projects until they secure a contract to build the facility. Proejects in both Kings and Fresno counties have been impacted.

Then there is the hurdle of getting a power purchase agreement from  a utility like PG&E. The utility is mandated to make such agreements but can pick the timing and the least expensive offer,sometimes  selecting a low bidder who in the end – can not deliver when its time perform.

Then there are macro factors as to why there appears to be glut of pending applications. The reality is that the economy has slowed business investment and solar companies face financial issues caused by huge Chinese solar subsides and an end of subsides in Europe.

Impressive Numbers or Glut?

A February 2012 report from the Defenders Of Wildlife says there are 59 solar PV projects in the permitting stage within the five southern San Joaquin counties that if built would generate 2,780 MW of power.This is in addition to 45 projects in those same counties that have already been approved that would generate 1,648 MW.That’s 109 solar projects pending in the south Central Valley that add up to  4,428MW, more than double 2 Diablo Canyon nuclear power plants.

But don’t expect any kind like that number to be built, agree many.

One developer Carmine Iadarola of Solargen USA who has a several pending applications in Fresno County says ”I would be surprised if out of those 40  applications in Fresno County that one quarter of them – probably less – were built.” For solar developers who have struggled through the approval gauntlet ” the risk is too great and profit margin too small” admits a frustrated Iadorolla.The company is building two systems in the county but in the cities of Huron and Firebaugh jurisdictions instead of in the county.

One of the Fresno County solar projects being built this summer is  owned by Spain’s Gestamp Solar. The company broke ground on a 1.5MW solar farm in June at Fig Avenues near Highway 41. But Gestamp has said Fresno County projects that are pending add up to 400 MW- some 10 projects in total that could be worth $2 billion if they were built. That’s a far cry from the 1.5 MW project that has actually broken ground.

Last year, a Gestamp spokesperson told PV magazine that” In order to achieve our goal, we’ve opened a project development office in Fresno and have a lot of greenfield pipeline. We have contracts and leased land tied up for around 400 MW in Fresno County. We like to think that all of it will go through. We feel that we’re going to get a very strong market out of Fresno. We’re continuing to work with utilities in getting power purchase agreements negotiated and signed.”

In nearby Kings County there are two side-by-side projects totaling 35 MW being built this summer by Recurrent Energy at Ave 21st and Kansas Ave near Stratford. These are projects. approved back in 2011  have a PG&E  power purchase agreements. There are however, about 1000 MW of pending applications lined up in the county – that’s 35MW being hooked up to the grid out of 1000 MW.

The County says they have received no word from a number of the larger projects in some time although they are processing 337MW of solar projects at a public hearing this month.

In Tulare County there are nearly 100 MW being built this summer near Alpaugh,some nearing completion that will hook to the grid late this summer.Two of these projects were just sold (for the second time) to ConEdsion of NY.

The biggest news coming down the pike in the county is that a slew of small 1 to 6 MW distributed energy projects will likely break ground later this year being built at scores of neighborhood grid locations around the more populated eastern part of the county by Immodo Solar. These localized projects appear to face fewer hurdles.

Other well publicized mega-solar projects like 50000 MW Westland Solar Park plan in Kings County are not moving forward now admits principal Dan Kim. The group had said they were going to file their EIR earlier this year.
“It doesn’t make sense to do more with the market the way it is” shrugs Kim, saying they are still optimistic long term.

Meanwhile statewide numbers still look promising for solar energy – next article.

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