One of the world's largest solar projects is headed for Central California

Solar energy has been popping up across California for decades, from neighborhood rooftops to panels arching over canals to grids floating in a retention pond. Now, a massive new project could blanket 136,000 acres of farmland in the Central Valley with solar, transforming a traditionally agricultural region into a major energy producer over the next few decades.

The Westlands Water District, the utility company that provides water to a huge swath of Fresno and Kings counties, approved the plan recently, which, when completed, could become one of the largest solar installations in the world. The panels would span an area roughly four times as large as the city of San Francisco. The Valley Clean Infrastructure Plan would also create energy storage and electric transmission facilities, allowing the electricity to reach far beyond the center of the state. Meanwhile, local landowners can supplement their farms with another revenue stream, offset water needs and prevent further subsidence. 

“We just don’t have the water available to us,” Jeff Fortune, a 45-year farmer, told SFGATE. “So this will allow you to get paid for growing electricity. But in turn, that will filter down so that the grower has a better chance of staying in existence.”

Fortune grows mainly almonds and pistachios, some of the most water-intensive California crops, meaning he has fallow — unseeded, unproductive — fields every year that haven’t been generating any revenue due to the lack of water. Also a board member of the Westlands Water District, which provides water to around 700 California farms, Fortune said the new project is a win-win for everyone. Even the growers who don’t participate in the program will benefit, he said, because if the district makes more money, it can potentially charge its growers less. Furthermore, with more electricity generated, that utility could become cheaper, too. Plus, the tax base for Fresno County will increase from these projects. 

Most importantly, farmers get to stay in business. “The farm economy’s tough right now. Business is tough. And this will allow you another revenue source besides your crop income,” Fortune said.

Project owners bill this as a huge boon to California, helping it reach its aggressive clean energy requirements. Golden State Clean Energy, a partner in the project, estimated that once it is completed, Californians could meet one-sixth of the state’s energy needs in 2035 this way.

Skeptics, meanwhile, remain concerned about the impacts of air pollution, noise, habitat disruption and traffic as the project comes online, not to mention that some think the panels’ glare across formerly green fields is a bit of an eyesore. 

Project leaders tout economic benefits beyond the energy generated, most notably around 3,000 new jobs for at least 10 years. Those jobs would mainly be concentrated in construction, but 500 of them would be permanent, according to Golden State Clean Energy.

Westlands Water District general manager Allison Febbo has dubbed the program a “survival plan,” given the uncertainty of the water supply in the region. Febbo said around 200,000 acres have typically been fallow every year, so there could even be another phase of the project in the future. 

Still, she calls it a long-term but temporary transition of the area, and eventually, the organization hopes the land can be reused as farmland. Most of the solar has around a 30-year lifespan.

Fortune said they’re in a unique situation to be able to execute a program like this successfully, as they’re geographically in the center of the state. “We’re located in just the perfect spot,” he said. 

Being able to send electricity to all corners of California is crucial amid the artificial intelligence boom, he said, when the state needs a larger power supply. “Electric power’s in short supply. And our project is board-ready, shovel-ready, and we could be online quicker than you could license a new gas-powered plant or build a nuclear plant. We’re ready to roll,” Fortune said.