Wednesday, May 14, 2014

San Francisco based Silverado Power Plans to build Six Solar Sites in parts of Lancaster and Los Angeles County

Silverado Solar plans to build six solar energy fields within almost 1,000 acres in unincorporated Los Angeles County. The projects are on the west side of Hwy 14 and they all have been partially approved by Lancaster Planning Department and Los Angeles Regional Planning. They run between 30th Street West and 120th streets West. Lancaster planning’s website indicates that two of them will be above Ave D near Hwy 14, while the other four will be south of Hwy 138. Silverado is currently buying the land and negotiating prices with realtors and sellers. What seems unique is that some of the parcels are 2.5 acres in size such as the area at 100th West at Ave K. Most of the time we have found that solar firms target large parcels. This causes the solar firm to negotiate with numerous sellers while getting approval from LA Regional Planning. According to AV Press, the six projects will generate a combined 172 megawatts of energy with the largest one being a 52 megawatt facility on 256 acres, running from avenues J to H-8 between 85th and 97th streets west. There are a lot of individual parcels in this area as well. Officials have yet to fully approve the plans and are still receiving public comments as part of the environmental impact review process. Dust and the availability of water seems to be a hurdle. Silverado claims to have a solution to use water outside of the area or reclaimed water. There have been a lot of solar projects and this dust issue was not addressed with the other projects now run by First Solar. Silverado came late to the game and now they have to implement dust control guidelines as part of the environmental report. It is very likely they will have a number of other mitigation procedures because of the impact on the burrowing owl, ground squirrel and other plant and animal species that maybe affected. The west side of Antelope Valley has seem an increase in land sales because of all of the solar projects in the area. Many local homeowners don’t like this alternative energy growth so close to home, but the land owners who live elsewhere have been happy to unload their land. Stay tuned here with vacantlanddeals.com and we will provide current updates on this project and others as they affect real estate in Lancaster and Palmdale, Ca

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