March 28,2018-
Avenal Cutoff, that dusty road known for cotton bales and tomato trucks, the fastest route to the prison and unwelcome alkali dust storms is getting a makeover reputation – as the Central Valley’s Solar Highway, now with plans filed for Kings County’s largest solar farm.
The RE Slate solar farm, another Recurrent Energy project, was submitted earlier this year at 16289 Avenal Cutoff road. At 300 megawatts, the project will sprawl over 2731 acres on land mostly fallowed today. Up to five million solar panels will cover this wrap-around energy farm (it surrounds the Mustang solar project) and will span from Hwy 198 in the north some 4.5 miles south to Laurel and 2 miles in width at the widest point on Kent Ave.
Sea of solar panels
The big project will join a half dozen other solar project built or in the works nearby on both sides of the Avenal Cutoff road.That includes the two big Mustang projects, as well as the Kent and Westland Aquamarine projects the will create virtually a sea of solar panels on both sides of the road in the next few years that connects I-5 to NAS Lemoore.
SF-based Recurrent has nine solar projects in the county.They are owned by Canadian Solar who purchased the company from Sharp in 2015. Canadian Solar, besides being a major developer of solar farms, is one of the three top solar panel makers in the world.
It is a market Kings County would like to continue to cultivate.
Coincidence or not, a solar panel manufacturer is said to be looking at a possible siting of a manufacturing plant in Kings County included on a list of prospects from the Kings EDC. Code-named Project Nomad – the plant, if built, would boast 700 jobs.
Recurrent plans to lease the land for the Avenal Cutoff facility from its owners Westlake Farms, Westlands Water District and Sandridge Partners.
Project includes energy storage
Besides solar arrays, Recurrent will add 3000 MW of power storage, enough to store 1200 megawatt hours on-site, using batteries or flywheel technology says their application to the county.
Construction of the Slate solar farm will start in the third quarter of 2019 and last 19 months using as many as 561 workers.
pic caption: dusty road getting a solar makeover