Santa Barbara Supervisors to Review Cuyama Solar Project

Amid the political debate over the future of high intensity oil and gas extraction in Santa Barbara County and the fate of Measure P on the November ballot, the county’s first proposed solar farm project is slowly moving forward.

The 40-megawatt farm is slated to be built on more than 300 acres of farm land in the Cuyama Valley and the company behind the project, First Solar, says at full capacity it could provide power to more than 15,000 homes.

“Anything that generates a little power from renewable energy resources is a good thing”, says Jerry Connor of the Los Padres Chapter of the Sierra Club which is supporting the Cuyama solar project, “as long as you are not providing severe natural resource damage of any kind.”

First Solar is expected to respond to various issues and concerns about the project that are before the County Board of Supervisors when it meets in Santa Maria on Tuesday.

“It’s a very nice conversion of light energy to electrical energy”, Connor says about solar power, “it gives a little heat of course, but there are no noxious fumes, no carbon added to the atmosphere in the course of developing the energy.”

The solar project, which has been years in the making, requires various waivers and other zoning changes of designated ag land in the Cuyama Valley before it can begin construction.

“We support this project in Cuyama but that land will effectively be taken off the tax rolls because solar doesn’t pay property tax in the state of California”, says Andy Caldwell with the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business or COLAB.

The Audubon Society has expressed concern about the Cuyama solar project’s impact on the endangered California Condor in eastern Santa Barbara County.

“We wish there was a level playing field between oil, gas, wind and solar, in terms of the cost of doing business but also the mitigations”, Caldwell says, “because solar and wind are allowed to kill birds by the thousands and tens of thousands whereas other energy sectors get the book thrown at them if they have any negative environmental consequences.”

The project would be built on privately own farm land that was used to grow baby carrots but has been in non-production due to the ongoing drought and a lack of water in the Cuyama Valley.

“We think that solar, wind, geothermal, wave energy, all of that should be explored”, Caldwell says, “the question is, how heavily do you subsidize it and to what degree do you mandate it before its time?”

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will be meeting Tuesday at the Betteravia Government Center in Santa Maria.