Use Permit Application No. PLN2025-0007 – MID Valley Power

Request to establish a photo-voltaic (PV) solar energy farm creating an aggregate peak power capacity of 115 megawatts (MW) of electricity across a 555.71± acre project site comprised of nine parcels located in the General Agriculture (A-2-40) zoning district. Eight of the nine parcels within the project area will be located east of I-5 (±484.18 acres) and one parcel (71.53± acres) will be located to the west of I-5. The project will also consist of a collector substation and battery energy storage system (BESS) on Assessor Parcel Number (APN) 021-015-021 with a 262-megawatt (MW) backup capacity for the electric grid within a 15± acre fenced compound. A 34.5Kw overhead line across the California Aqueduct is also proposed to tie-in the systems proposed on APNs 021-013-001 and 021-013-020. Underground lines will run beneath I-5 to tie-in the system proposed on APN 021-015-002 with the proposed systems on the parcels east of I-5. Two to three employees are expected to visit the site bi-monthly for two weeks at a time for routine maintenance and washing of the panels. Operation of the facility will be done remotely through control of inverters and on-site equipment through a cloud-based system. On-site wells are proposed to be used for washing the solar panels. The applicant proposes the following fencing and landscaping for the project: a six-foot-tall chain link fence with barbed wire around the perimeter of the 15± acre substation and battery storage compound; a six-foot-tall chain link fence around the perimeter of the project site; and screening comprised of six-foot-tall chain link fencing with slats and 10-foot-wide landscape strips with olive trees along the project site’s frontages off Interstate 5 (I-5). The project will take access onto County-maintained Howard Road via a gated driveway and Needham Road via Kern Creek Road (a private road). The applicant proposes a 20-foot-wide emergency vehicle access perimeter road around each of the parcels within the project site. If approved, construction is anticipated to occur immediately following building and grading permits having been obtained within 18 months of project approval. Three parcels totaling 290.39± acres within the project area (APNs 021-013-001, -020 and 021-015-021) are enrolled under active Williamson Act Contracts; however, because this request is for a Tier 3 Use Permit which prohibits the project site from being enrolled in a contract, a Williamson Act Cancellation for the 290.39± acres is included as part of this request. A Williamson Act Notice of Non-Renewal will be recorded for the proposed project prior to circulation of an Initial Study.