{"id":8932,"date":"2010-10-13T19:52:26","date_gmt":"2010-10-14T02:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=8932"},"modified":"2018-02-02T18:33:52","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T18:33:52","slug":"san-benito-pv-array-clears-a-key-hurdle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2010\/10\/13\/san-benito-pv-array-clears-a-key-hurdle\/","title":{"rendered":"San Benito PV Array Clears a Key Hurdle"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Photo: Craig MIller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cupertino-based Solargen Energy<\/a> cleared a major hurdle<\/a> this week in its plan to build a nearly 400-megawatt solar farm in the Panoche Valley. Late Tuesday the San Benito County<\/a> Board of Supervisors unanimously\u00a0 approved the company’s environmental impact report. The project has seen opposition from environmental groups and valley residents concerned about the impact of covering more than 4,700 acres with photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. The Board also approved the water supply assessment and canceled several Williamson Act<\/a> contracts, both paving the way for the project to move forward.
\n
\n“It was a difficult decision for the Board,” said San Benito County Supervisor Anthony Botelho. “It’s a change in a very rural area of our county, and this is a different type of land use than people are used to, ” said the supervisor. “We all have concerns when there’s a change this drastic.”<\/p>\n

The EIR approval is just one step the company will need to take before it can break ground.\u00a0 At the county level, Botelho said, the next step is a conditional use permit from the planning commission, which is likely to be taken up by the Board next month.\u00a0 Then the county and the company would negotiate a development agreement, to sort out issues like job preference and training, and revenue streams to compensate for some of the project’s impacts on the area, he said.<\/p>\n

Before the Board vote on Tuesday, supervisors spent several hours hearing public comments<\/a>. Objections to the plan have included encroachment on agricultural land and the habitat of several threatened species, as well as impact on the valley viewshed. Botehlo said that the Board will take the concerns of the project’s opponents into account throughout the remaining steps of the process.<\/p>\n

“Hopefully there’s room for everyone,” he said, “including sustainable agriculture, green jobs, renewable energy, and maintaining habitats in this unique valley.”<\/p>\n

As part of KQED’s 33×20 series<\/a> about California’s renewable energy goals, Climate Watch and Quest reporters explored what’s at stake<\/a> in the Panoche Valley, in a series of radio reports. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

County officials approve Solargen’s environmental impact report for the Panoche Valley, a critical step in the approval process for what may become the nation’s largest PV solar farm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11413,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[8,17,135,415,468,530,677],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-8932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-power","tag-33x20","tag-agriculture","tag-conservation","tag-panoche-valley","tag-renewable-energy","tag-solar","tag-wildlife"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nSan Benito PV Array Clears a Key Hurdle | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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