The Yolo County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on a proposed 13-megawatt or 20-megawatt solar array that would provide electricity to locally based Valley Clean Energy.
The hearing Thursday in Woodland will accept public comment on the environmental document for Gibson Solar Farm, which is proposed on agricultural land between the towns of Madison and Esparto on State Route 16, the main road into the Capay Valley.
"This is a big milestone," said Gordon Samuel, assistant general manager and director of power resources with Davis-based Valley Clean Energy.
The Gibson Solar Farm would be the largest locally based electricity generator for Valley Clean Energy, he said.
Valley Clean Energy is a nonprofit that provides renewable electricity to Woodland, Davis, Winters and the unincorporated areas of Yolo County. Valley Clean Energy is a “community choice energy" program, where customers can decide from whom they buy electricity. For the two years leading up to the formation of Valley Clean Energy in 2018, the governments of Yolo County, Davis and Woodland worked to create the nonprofit joint powers authority to buy electricity from the open market and deliver it through Pacific Gas & Electric Co.'s transmission lines.
Power from the Gibson array would connect to PG&E's (NYSE: PCG) grid at a substation less than a mile away. The project has been in the works since 2021.
The environmental document to be discussed at the hearing will be for up to 20 megawatts of generation with 6.5 megawatts of battery storage. A megawatt is enough energy to power 750 homes.
The project was proposed at 20 megawatts, but one of the likely alternatives is to cap it at 13 megawatts, because that is the current capacity at the local substation to take electricity up to the grid, Samuel said.
To upgrade the substation would be a cost that would be borne by Valley Clean Energy, and the nonprofit is still deciding whether that cost makes sense and whether it pencils out, he said.
The cost of developing the solar farm is being borne by its developer, Emeren Group Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) of Stamford, Connecticut. Emeren is the new name of what was previously ReneSola Ltd. The company, which changed its name at the end of January, develops, builds, operates and sells solar power projects in Europe, North America and Asia.
Valley Clean Energy has a 20-year agreement to purchase power from Gibson Solar.
On the large size, the solar farm would generate 20 megawatts on a parcel of 147 acres, with the panels taking up about 35 acres. The rest of the land would be used for grazing and as habitat for bees and beekeepers.
The smaller 13-megawatt array would use only 100 acres and have an even smaller footprint of land covered in panels.
The land is currently in agricultural production of alfalfa and tomatoes, according to the environmental document.
The larger array would produce 35% of Valley Clean Energy's power locally for its 150,000 customers.
Much of Valley Clean Energy's power is sourced from solar projects in the Central Valley from Fresno to San Bernardino.
Part of the reason for Valley Clean Energy's interest in having locally sourced power is to have it available during times of energy crisis and also to bring in local jobs, especially during construction, Samuel said. While the array wouldn't have many employees during operation, it would create about 150 jobs during its six-month construction, he said.
