Skip to main content
Donate

Imperial County Transmission Project OK'd for 'Area of Critical Environmental Concern'

By Chris Clarke
September 26, 2012
Support Provided By
BLM-Campo-Verde-Gen-Tie-Route-9-26-12-thumb-600x389-36822

Near the proposed Campo Verde gen-tie line | BLM Photo

The Interior Department approved two possible routes Wednesday across protected public lands for a 230-kilovolt radial generation tie line -- commonly called a "gen-tie line" -- that would connect the 139-megawatt Campo Verde Solar Project to San Diego Gas & Electric's Imperial Valley Substation. Campo Verde, a project of First Solar, is slated for 1,443 acres of private agricultural land near the Imperial County town of Seeley.

Each of the two possible routes for Campo Verde's Gen-Tie line would cross public land, which triggered federal environmental assessment of the cumulative impacts of the entire project. The .9-mile primary alternative crosses .4 miles of public land: the secondary alternative would be one mile long, 90% of that on public land. The total public land area affected is 17 acres.

All of the public land affected by the project lies within the Yuha Basin Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC), designated by the BLM to protect the land's biological and cultural resources. The gen-tie project may damage habitat for burrowing owls and flat-tailed horned lizards. The developers will be protecting other habitat as compensation.

A 230 kilovolt line gives significantly more transmission capacity than the Campo Verde project would need on its own. According to the gen-tie line's environmental assessment, First Solar offered to build the line to carry additional power to be generated by nearby renewable power generating facilities that may be built in the future. And so though 17 acres may not seem like a big deal, the project may well help change the face of the east edges of the Yuha Desert. With First Solar building gen-tie capacity for them, new solar developers have additional incentive to build near Seeley and the Yuha Basin ACEC.

When completed, the Campo Verde gen-tie line will connect the solar facility with SDG&E's Southwest Powerlink. The utility has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with First Solar. The solar project is expected to create 5-7 permanent jobs.

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