FALLOW FARMLANDS TO GO TO SUN

Enviros, growers agree on farmland reuse for solar
Jason Dearen and Tracie Cone, March 21, 2010 (AP via Washington Post)

"Cash-strapped farmers in California's agricultural heartland and environmentalists at odds over water rights and wildlife protections finally agree on something: that thousands of acres of cracked, salty farmland is the perfect site for a sprawling utility-scale solar farm.

"The 47 square-miles of land proposed for the Westlands Solar Park in remote Kings and Fresno counties is just one of dozens of unfinished solar projects in California, but renewable energy analysts say it is a rare one that enjoys the broad support of environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, powerful agriculture interests and state government."

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"Thousands of solar panels would be located on and near the salty-white, fallowed farm land [with transmission nearby], most of which is owned by the Westlands Water District, the largest such district in the country comprised of 600,000 acres of San Joaquin Valley farmland…Once [regulatory hurdles are met and construction is] completed, the first chunk of solar proposed for the site - the total size of which is roughly that of San Francisco - could generate up to 1 gigawatt of power, or enough to energize up to one million homes…

"The embrace of solar power as a new cash crop comes at a time when the district is struggling with mounting debt…A decade ago, Westlands floated a bond to buy 100,000 acres of farm land where poor drainage had created a salt buildup called selenium, making the land unusable for growers. But with the salty land came water rights, so Westlands bought it so it could divert the water allocations to more productive farms."

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"Since then, drought and environmental issues have cut revenue to Westlands by reducing the amount of water it can sell…Westlands now sees solar power as a way to put the land back to work…[W]ith Mojave Desert solar projects shrinking in number because of recent proposed legislation…the valley has become…[a prime location for solar and] other types of energy development…

"The path to the finish line is more clearly defined here than perhaps any other project in the state right now, said Carl Zichella, Sierra Club's director of western renewable programs…[and] with the more sunny desert sites mired in a political, regulatory and environmental morass, the Valley's solar value has increased…"