Skip to main content
Donate

East San Diego County Residents Weary of New Energy Proposals

By Chris Clarke
December 24, 2012
Support Provided By
boulevard-12-24-12-thumb-600x400-42608

Turbines near Boulevard, California | Photo: slworking/Flickr/Creative Commons License

Residents of the backcountry communities in eastern San Diego County, and the adjoining parts of Imperial County, have seen a lot of renewable energy related development in their area -- from the Kumeyaay and Ocotillo Express wind projects to the (temporarily shelved) Imperial Solar Two project in Ocotillo, and the Sunrise Powerlink transmission line driving the development in the first place.

And if the response to four new solar projects in the area is any indication, some of those residents are feeling like they've had enough.

According to Miriam Raftery in the December 20 edition of East County Magazine, residents are gearing up to oppose four proposed concentrating solar projects around the San Diego backcountry hamlet of Boulevard. The projects' proponent, Soitec, wants to put concentrating PV generating panels on about 1,400 acres of land in town -- a little more than two square miles in four parcels.

The Rugged, Tierra Del Sol, LanEast and LanWest Solar projects are proposed for oak woodlands, creeks and seasonal riparian areas in the East County mountains. According to Raftery, residents point out that the firm SolOrchard also plans five projects in town, and between those, the proposed Tule, Shu'luuk, and Jewel Valley wind projects, and new substations and gen-tie lines popping up along the route of the Sunrise Powerlink, the region's rural character is about to be permanently changed.

Soitec, a San Diego-based manufacturer of concentrating PV modules, announced last week that it had opened a 15-acre manufacturing facility in San Diego, making it one of the largest solar module manufacturers in the US. That title is partly due to attrition: 2012 has not been good to solar module manufacturers.

Soitec's modules focus sunlight onto PV cells with laminated Fresnel lenses, and the firm claims its modules reach 30% efficiency. Boulevard residents fear the lenses will pose a glare hazard under certain conditions. One resident in attendance at a meeting in Boulevard last week displayed photos she'd taken of a Soitec module in San Diego that appeared to be delivering a startling amount of glare in the direction of a neighboring highway.

Boulevard's Planning Group has requested a 30-day extension of a January 7 deadline for comments on the Soitec proposals.

ReWire is dedicated to covering renewable energy in California. Keep in touch by liking us on Facebook, and help shape our editorial direction by taking this quick survey here.

Support Provided By
Read More
An oil pump painted white with red accents stands mid-pump on a dirt road under a blue, cloudy sky with a green, grassy slope in the background.

California’s First Carbon Capture Project: Vital Climate Tool or License to Pollute?

California’s first attempt to capture and sequester carbon involves California Resources Corp. collecting emissions at its Elk Hills Oil and Gas Field, and then inject the gases more than a mile deep into a depleted oil reservoir. The goal is to keep carbon underground and out of the atmosphere, where it traps heat and contributes to climate change. But some argue polluting industries need to cease altogether.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
By Emma Foehringer Merchant, Inside Climate News