High-speed rail power facility planned for Hanford

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) hosted a meeting on Thursday evening at the Civic Auditorium to inform the public of an upcoming project in Hanford and to gain feedback on what the community would like to see included in the project’s review process. 

The CHSRA calls it the Photovoltaic (PV) and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Project, and it includes plans to build traction power substations at 30-mile intervals along the high-speed rail’s alignment.

Energy would be generated by small solar panel farms and stored in large battery-like facilities to be used to power the high-speed rail when it is up and running.

“What we’re proposing to do now is to introduce solar energy conversion into electricity and then send that electricity to the traction power substations where there would be located battery energy storage systems,” said project manager Andrew Bayne.  “So some electricity is going from the [solar] sites to the traction power substations, some electricity is going to the train, some electricity is going to the batteries, and some electricity is going back to the grid. Also, when needed, we would be taking electricity from the grid.”

The CHSRA plans to build one PV/BESS facility in Kings County, with a .3-acre energy storage facility on Jackson Avenue and roughly 54 acres of solar panels on Kent Avenue. 

The CHSRA already owns the land on which the substation components will be built and is beginning the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) documents necessary to begin construction. 

Part of the CEQA review requires a report on the project’s potential environmental impacts across several spectrums, including biological and cultural resources. 

Bayne said the Environmental Impact Report for the Kings County portion of the project would also analyze potential exposure of hazardous materials, development in floodplains, and the conversion of the land’s current use designation. 

“What I need from you is your perspective on what else needs to go into the Environmental Impact Report,” said Bayne. “This is a scoping period.”

Comments on what, if any, other elements need to be addressed in the Environmental Impact Report can be submitted via email at PV-BESS@hsr.ca.gov or by phone at (559) 425-4438. 

The comment period is open until April 8.