The Valley Clean Infrastructure Plan received its approval from the board of directors of the Westlands Water District in December, kicking off the country's largest solar-storage project to date, Canary Media reported.
Spread across over 600,000 acres of California's western Central Valley, the solar, battery, and power grid project could provide as much as one-quarter of the state's clean energy needs by 2035, producing up to 21 gigawatts.
Golden State Clean Energy will produce the master plan, but it will not build the entire project. Instead, individual owners of agricultural property in the area will be invited to invest in the project.
While you may not be able to participate in a large-scale solar project like this at home, you can still benefit from residential solar panel installation. EnergySage offers free tools to help you get reliable estimates and compare quotes from local installers.
The reason for involving individual landowners and small-scale solar developers is simple. The agricultural land in the area is fertile, but irrigation is limited. A landowner with 100 acres might have only enough water to farm on half of it. This project will allow the owner to "farm" for electricity from the remaining land, making it profitable once again and providing the state with energy from land that was already going unused.
"The cost of building solar is well north of $1 million per megawatt, probably closer to $1.5 million," said Patrick Mealoy, a partner and chief operating officer of Golden State Clean Energy, per Canary Media. "That's billions and billions of dollars that could be built on fallowed ag land, creating jobs and creating an enormous tax base for Fresno County."
To take advantage of EnergySage's free services, visit its website. When you do, the average homeowner can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. You can get more details using its helpful mapping tool to see the average cost of a home solar installation in your state and the incentives available to help. It also offers information about battery storage to help you go off-grid and protect your home during outages.
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