NextEra, as Boulevard Associates, LLC, is proposing to construct, operate, maintain, and decommission an approximately 300-megawatt (MW) alternating current solar photovoltaic facility and energy storage project, the Cady Solar Energy Center Project, on approximately 2,866 acres of public lands in San Bernardino County, California which are administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Barstow Field Office. The project would connect into the Pisgah Substation operated by Southern California Edison (SCE), which is located within the Right of Way filing area.

The Proposed Project would be on BLM land that are identified as General Public Lands in the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) Land Use Plan Amendment (LUPA) (September 2016). General Public Lands are identified in the DRECP LUPA as BLM-administered lands that do not have a specific land allocation or designation, such as Development Focus Area, Aera of Critical Environmental Concern, Special Recreation Managament Area, etc. These areas are open to renewable energy applications.

NextEra said that they evaluated other private and BLM land around the Pisgah Substation; however, other nearby BLM land is identified as exclusion and other potential sites would have required substantially longer gen-tie lines which add environmental impact and cost. Further, there are not large enough private parcels available near the interconnection point to facilitate a project of this size.

The project would interconnect to the existing SCE Pisgah Substation. The 230 kV loop-in would originate at a new, approximately 5-acre on-site project substation that would step up power from the 34.5 kV solar collection lines and deliver it to the Pisgah Substation via 230 kV.

Single axis tracking solar systems would be 12 feet high. If a DC-coupled system is used, Lithium-ion battery units would be stored in numerous smaller containers. Those containers would make use of the solar inverters, feeding them in DC power. Therefore, the battery containers would be distributed throughout the solar arrays, adjacent to their respective inverters. The containers would be similar in size (20–40 feet long) to the solar inverter skids. The battery and solar inputs would be metered separately prior to signal inversion.

The charge and discharge of the DC-coupled batteries would be controlled by signal from the inverters. As is typical for the industry, inverters would be controlled by a central control system. The protections to the batteries would be internal to the battery management systems and control boxes located within the containers and inverters.

Jobs Would Be a Bust

The proposed Cady Solar Project would be unmanned, and no operations and maintenance building would be constructed. Operations would be monitored remotely via a supervisory control and data acquisition (“SCADA”) system, and periodic inspections and maintenance activities would occur. 

During operations, solar panel washing is not expected to be needed, accirding to the applicant, but would not occur more than one to four times per year. Conditions that may necessitate increased wash requirements include sand storms that occur in the area. A general labor force (up to 20 individuals) may assist in the panel cleaning. Panel washing for a project of this size would require approximately 25 days to complete per wash cycle. If groundwater proves unsuitable for washing, water trucks would be used to deliver water from a local purveyor.

For a detailed field trip report of this area, see our archive page on the former Calico Solar Project: https://www.basinandrangewatch.org/CadyMtns-Solar1-2.html