San Joaquin Valley Energy Landscape

San Joaquin Valley Energy Landscape

The San Joaquin Valley has experienced a near-complete biome conversion due primarily to agricultural, urban, and industrial land uses. As a result, this region has one of the highest concentrations of threatened and endangered species in the continental United States. This landscape has significant potential to accelerate low impact solar development due to the area’s high solar insolation and proximity to urban areas with high demand for electricity. There are over 100 solar facilities in the region totaling close to 1,000 MW of solar energy capacity. Additionally, the region supports some of the richest, most productive farmland in the world.

The Nature Conservancy recognized both the opportunity for accelerating conservation-compatible solar energy development in this region, as well as the risk to endangered species if that development happened in the wrong places. As a result, the Conservancy engaged in a focused effort to assist California in meeting climate and land protection goals while maintaining a sustainable agricultural economy.

Western San Joaquin Valley

In 2012, The Nature Conservancy completed an assessment that identified lands for solar energy development that would minimize conflict with both agricultural and habitat values. This assessment, The Western San Joaquin Valley Least Conflict Solar Energy Assessment, characterizes the land use constraints and opportunities associated with siting solar energy facilities in the Western San Joaquin Valley. The authors compiled regional data on conservation values and land uses to provide an initial vision for compatibility of renewable energy, conservation and agriculture. The assessment identifies areas that may be suitable, after more comprehensive site-level investigation, for the development of utility-scale solar without jeopardizing conservation values. These areas, as well as areas of high conservation value, can be viewed by accessing the spatial dataset and can be compared with other data sources to make smart solar siting decisions that will accelerate our transition to renewable energy by minimizing conflicts with species and habitat. The assessment is intended to guide projects to potential low impact places but all projects should complete thorough site-level environmental assessments to ensure impacts are avoided and minimized.

Interest in the San Joaquin Valley Solar Energy Landscape Grows

The Nature Conservancy’s Western San Joaquin Valley Assessment sparked interest in expanding the scope of the study to include the entirety of the San Joaquin Valley.. In May 2016, Conservation Biology Institute (CBI), Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE), and Terrell Watt Planning Associates, with input from the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) , undertook a stakeholder-led process, called the “Solar and the San Joaquin Valley Identification of Least-Conflict Lands Project.” Initiated in June 2015, the goal was to explore how multiple and diverse parties could quickly identify least-conflict lands for solar photovoltaic development. The process built off of The Nature Conservancy’s 2012 assessment, and Conservancy staff played a key role in the identification of 470,000 acres where utility-scale renewable resources can be developed with least impact to our state’s iconic natural and working lands. For more information, you can read the report, or visit the San Joaquin Valley Project Gateway.

Optimizing California’s Transmission for San Joaquin Valley Least Conflict Solar

The San Joaquin Valley least conflict area for solar energy development identified by stakeholders in the 2016 process is characterized by high renewable resource potential and low agricultural and habitat value. However, the area experiences transmission capacity constraints which has stalled solar energy development, creating a missed opportunity to efficiently and cost-effectively deliver additional low conflict clean energy. In 2017, The Nature Conservancy commissioned an analysis with Energy + Environmental Economics (E3) that suggests evolving the state’s transmission planning approach can increase the supply of cost-effective low carbon resources while better utilizing the high voltage transmission system in this region. To learn more, you can read the Conservancy’s Executive Summary.