Tulare County produces about 26% of California’s milk supply,55% of its oranges and is one of the few place in the world where giant Sequoias reproduce. What it doesn’t seem to do is produce anywhere near enough electric power to meet its needs.

While the county has a few generating facilities - mostly small hydroelectric plants dating from the turn of the century - altogether  they produce around 50 megawatts of power. That compares to demand countywide of around 1000 mw says Doug Carter,principal with SolarGenUSA who hopes to build a score of new solar farms in the county.

“To us is makes more sense to build relatively small 20MW power facilities close to where the power is needed rather than seeking permits for large utility size solar plants that need to wheel power long distance.” argues Carter. SolarGenUSA and a handful of other developers, some from around the world are proposing several dozen projects from the mini to the mega scale in Tulare and Kings counties.

You might be surprised to learn that the state’s two largest utilities Edison and PG&E got their start in Tulare County harnessing power on Kaweah and Tule rivers . But together these hydro facilities produce about 10MW when the water flows are high - about enough to light up 600 homes.

But neither these big utilities or anyone else has taken much interest in developing power in Tulare County since - until now.

Next door in Kings County a company - GWF has built 2 power plants in the modern era.But the power is intermittent - used for peak power for the grid on hot summer days only. Again the power produced is a tiny fraction of what people in Kings County need every day.

If this part of the Central Valley has been ignored by energy developers for the past century - in 2010 it is suddenly ground zero for the solar transformation of California.

Under the radar - residents are adding solar at their homes in increasing numbers(see related story).But it is the commercial projects where we are looking at some eye popping numbers.

The megawatts being proposed run the gamut from a 1mw system being installed at the Tulare wastewater plant later this year to 5000 mw of photovoltaic power being proposed in Kings County by Westlands Holdings .

Tulare County has attracted 13 applications for special use permits mostly 20mw in size. In Kings County the potential projects range from the 20mw size that sits on 40 acres to the 5000 MW behemoth that would be sited on 30,000 fallow acres of distressed farmland in Westlands Water District - almost all in Kings County.

Also in the mega category - a Chinese company Canergy is working on a 20mw project called KingSolar in Kings County and a much larger utility scale 500MW solar farm along Highway 5 on the southern edge of Kings County.

Canergy project developer for Canergy - Chesley Chao says KingSolar “has been filed with the California System Operator and is in their queue” noting that the location is confidential.The company’s web site says the big 500 megawatt project is being proposed in Quay Valley(that ten mile by 2 mile “new town”project) south of Kettleman City along I-5. Chao declined to give more details except to say the project is the planning stage.

Kings County EDC president John Lehn traveled to China in April  to meet with Canergy officials and the government along with  California Energy Commission Vice chair James Boyd signing a letter of intent to bring the big project to Kings County.

A third large project in Kings County would be a potential 2900 acre solar farm on land owned by NAS Lemoore.The US Navy has gone through the first step in soliciting developer interest to contract to set up a solar farm there on leased land.A Navy spokesman told this reporter that news could come in a few months.Like in other case the lack of water for the west side of the Valley is a driving factor to look at growing solar panels on this farmland - a development that requires zero water.

Why is this area of the Valley suddenly on the solar energy radar screen? It’s not just because the sun shines brightly in these parts although it does.

Energy planners say western Kings County sits along the most important transmission lines connecting the state’s north and south. As the state races to increase the amount of renewable energy to 33% by 2020 developers are in a race to site solar and wind farms up and down the state preferably where hookup costs are less.

Before this year the highly prized territories tended to be in the desert areas of the state where plenty of renewables are already installed.But environmental opposition to use of  protected lands like the Mojave Desert has led the planners to look elsewhere for large utility size projects that have less downside impacts.

The planners are working with the private utilities in these deals to buy the power the projects will put out.

Energy planners are concerned over the cost of adding transmission lines to move renewable power from rural areas where it is expected to be generated to urban areas where it is needed.

“They could build 1000mw of solar power in Westlands right now without adding any new transmission capacity” says Sierra Club spokesman Carl Zichella who advises the state on transmission issues. Zichella strongly supports the idea of placing utility-size solar on retired farmlands like in the Westlands. The lands are tainted by salinity and contamination and unlike more natural areas - attract little wildlife.

“I see plenty of reasons to do the Westlands solar project and no reasons why not.”

One obvious reason to move on this idea is that unlike the dozens of pending projects on pristine land proposed around the state - this project could be approved quickly without drawn out legal battles.

Meanwhile, other large solar projects around the state are being scaled back or dropped altogether. A plan to build hundreds of megawatts in Owens Valley on the old lakebed got a wake up call from LADWP - who would use the power - concerned about air pollution problems. Plans to put solar panels on 80 square miles of dry lake bed in the  Sierra were put on hold when engineering tests showed that “if solar panel platforms were placed at the southern end of the nearly dry 110-square-mile Owens Lake, they would sink as much as several inches into extremely corrosive soil” reported the LA Times earlier  this month.

Plans top build a 400 mw solar farm in San Benito County on 5000 acres of farmland was scaled way back recently after plenty of local opposition and another long planned solar/biomass project near Coalinga (San Joaquin Solar 1&2) was dropped suddenly reportedly due to neighbors concern over truck traffic due to to waste hauling for the biomass part of the project.

Some expect a company to propose the first solar project in the Westlands area soon.Principal with Westlands Holdings Dan Kim says they are in discussions with developers but ”nothing is signed yet.”

Kim says an EIR on the big project could start in 3 months. Supporters say while many solar projects statewide have environmental impacts - utility-size solar in a place like Westlands combined with urban utility- size solar, residential and distributed PV projects will allow the state to meet its 33% renewable energy target for 2020 with virtually no environmental impact.

“This is the best place in the state to do this” argues Kim.

One continuing theme in the estimate of how much large scale solar we will need in California in the future appears to be a moving target  - with a smaller need anticipated then a year ago for large scale solar projects  as more “ distributed energy” typically smaller scale and close to the energy demand - is built.

If this is the best place to generate renewables to send to the cities - it may be the best place to generate power for local needs argues SolarGenUSA’s Doug Carter.

Carter says his company is working on 280 mw of power in the Central Valley - all distributed power -20mw-typically a 40 acre parcel they lease from owners.

“We locate them close to the substations so connection is easy.” SolarGenUSA scouts the area for sites near a power substation with 7 pending projects and more in the works in Tulare County alone. ”One megawatt serves 300 homes” says Carter .The company is targeting 120mw in Tulare Count to date. In Kings County Carter says they have two projects totaling 30mw near Avenal on the west side of the Kettleman Hills.

SolarGenUSA has a deal with two small westside towns in Fresno County to site small farms in Firebaugh and Huron.

Carter suggests this approach makes sense from the all important financing angle noting  a 20mw deal requires much less financing than doing these huge deals where costs could run in the billions with a b.

“Scaling up to more 20mw projects can be done quickly if you need more.” It seems to follow the ‘keep it simple’ logic.

One cloud hanging over the solar projects in Tulare and Kings is whether the county in each case allows the land owner to continue to claim the Williamson Act tax break since all the projects are on ag land.

State Farm Bureau and local Farm Bureaus have questioned whether the tax break ought to be allowed in the case of solar development with the CFB being adamant against. Each county board of supervisors makes the decision however and Kings has already approved several solar projects on Williamson Act land - a move that drew a legal threat from CFB recently.

Some land owners argue for now the farmland doesn’t have a water supply and that some time in the future could return to farm use once the lease expires. In Tulare County an advisory committee is looking into a point system depending on whether the land is prime or not. Their advise will come back to the Tulare County BOS.

A number of pending applications for solar farms in Tulare County are in the western part of the county - not on prime land. Likewise in Kings where some farmers say they don’t have water to farm all their acreage but could sure use the income from solar to keep farming on the rest of their land.

Here is a list  of pending solar applications in the two county area that we know about.

SolarGenUSA : 7 projects filed in Tulare County- one near Rector substation east of Visalia and another near Terra Bella with 3 more filed near Alpaugh totaling 120 mw. Spokesman Doug Carter says he hopes to have all entitlements in place to move forward by the end of this year. SolarGen USA, based in Colorado, says it is developing over 280 megawatts of clean distributed photovoltaic energy located primarily within the California Central Valley. SolarGen USA’s focus is the development of smaller sites compatible with leasing agricultural property. Each facility can generate  typically 20 megawatts of solar power and is located where energy demand exists and transmission is less impeded.The company is working with SoCal Edison to buy the power in Tulare County.He has two projects in Kings County in Avenal.

DTE Energy: based in Detroit has one 20mw project in Tulare County in the Angiola Water District in southwest Tulare County.Applied for permit.

Solar Project Solutions(SPS): A joint venture between Samsung (Korea) and Enco Utilities(former Edison) has 5 projects in southwest Tulare County near Alpaugh and near Corcoran in Kings County totaling 130megawatts. Has power purchase agreements with PG&E. Corcoran project is 40mw in Corcoran Irrigation District.Applied for permits in both counties.

Recurrent Energy: San Francisco based company with permits pending in Kern County is negotiating in Kings County for several hundred acres with Westlake Farms.

EnXco : A French company working on a project in Corcoran and other sites in Tulare County.

Eurus: A Japanese company with three projects near Avenal in Kings County(west of Kettleman Hills) in the process of receiving permits from Kings County.Power totals 48mw. Has a July 29 PUC hearing on approval of  power purchase agreement with PG&E. Scheduled to deliver power in May 2011. Also negotiating for several hundred acres with Westlake Farms in Kings County.Has received approval from Kings County on some permits.

Canergy: US Company backed by the Chinese is working with Kings EDC on projects in Kings County. They include the proposed KingSolar 20mw Solar Plant. Company web site says:

“KingSolar is a 20MW PV project - the first utility-scale PV power generation facility in the U.S. developed by Canergy. Locating on a previously disturbed agricultural  which is about one mile away from an existing substation, KingSolar has advantages of interconnection & transmission and environmental approvals in terms of technical procedure and economic efficiency. KingSolar has executed land lease contract, and is currently in the process of interconnection and transmission studies by CAISO and environmental permitting. The Project is under negotiation with a major Utility Company in California  and is expected to finalize a Power Purchase Agreement in the second quarter of 2010. The construction is planned to start in late 2010 and the project is anticipated to be on line in the second half of 2011” says the Canergy web site.

The apparent result of a meeting in April in Beijing China, Canergy  has agreed to build a large solar farm in Kings County.Now according to the company web site they have chosen Quay Valley along Highway 5 south of Kettleman City as the location.Their web site says “ James D Boyd – Vice Chairman of California Energy Commission led a  delegation team visit to Jiangsu Provincial Government in China and singed  a strategic agreement  between the Jiangsu Provincial Government and the State of California for clean energy promotion and environmental protection. China Guodian and Canergy will lead this effort to develop the 500MW solar farm project in California.”  

“Located in Quay Valley, Central California with the access to the best solar resources, the 500MW solar farm is in development to power a new green city which will be the similar size of Manhattan. The green city will contain 50,000 people and will be 100% powered by renewable energy, mainly solar PV and geothermal, upon completion.

The 500MW project is planed to be included under the strategic cooperation between the State Government of California and Jiangsu Provincial Government to promote renewable energy, energy efficiency and environment protection, and the explicit inter-state agreement is expected to be signed at the end of 2010. As the lead party of project development, Canergy with partners has accomplished site control and environmental impact report, while the interconnection request for large generator has been filed to CAISO and the Power Purchase Agreement negotiation will start in late 2010.

The project has integrated  and utilized advantages and strength of all project participants including Canergy, China Guodian, Jiangsu Representative Office in the U.S., iCET and GROW. Upon completion, the project will create approximately 3000 green jobs and reduce CO2by 181,158 metric tons annually.”

Quay Valley developer Quay Davis attended the China meeting but told this reporter he could not comment on plans for the project on the site of his mothballed new town project. That project had a big solar component.But the plant has been on hold for nearly two years after the recession halted development interest and there was some litigation over water.

Westlands Solar Project: Supported by the California Energy Commission who designated  the area as a special renewable zone  and environmental groups - this 30,000 acre project could unfold in the next few years on retired farm land in Westlands Water District. The project would likely be built in phases over a decade or longer but could total 5000 megawatts - one of the largest proposed solar farms in the  world.

Solargen Energy: Not to be confused with the Colorado company with a similar name Solargen Energy based in Cupertino has been working on a permit for a 420 mw PV solar farm in Panoche Valley(San Benito County) west of I-5. In the past few weeks the county planning department recommended that the project be scaled back to 120mw.This alternative is a 71.4 percent reduction of power generated and an 80 percent smaller footprint, according to the EIR.

Kings River Conservation District: working on a an 80mw solar farm in Kings or Fresno counties.

City of Tulare:Is building a 1 megawatt solar farm next to its wastewater treatment plant that will generate about 30% of its power needs.Construction is expected to be underway this fall.

Besides all the renewable projects vying for approval there is one new big power plant using fossil fuel seeking their final permit to build.That is Avenal Power east of Highway 5 who is awaiting EPA final approval for its permit to build a 600mw natural gas fired plant in Kings County.No power purchase agreement is in place.But EPA could finally allow the project to move forward soon having delayed it this year as a result of the  Kettleman Hills controversy.The location is close to the main north/south power line.

Two other GWF Power projects could expand as well - natural gas plants in Lemoore and Hanford as well but with utilities focusing on solar no power purchase agreement is in place. The company may do a solar project.