12-20-2013 BPU RPT 06 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

W A T E R E N E R G Y RIVERSIDE PUBLIC UTILITIES Board Memorandum PUBLIC UTILITIES BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES DATE: December 20, 2013 ITEM NO: 6 SUBJECT: PELLISIER RANCH SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC PROJECT — APPROVAL OF WORK ORDER NO. 1410983 ISSUE: The item for Board of Public Utilities consideration is approval of Work Order No. 1410983 to initiate the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process to determine the viability of the proposed Pellisier Ranch Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Project. RECOMMENDATION: That the Board of Public Utilities approve Work Order No. 1410983 in the amount of$250,000 for project preliminary design, electric distribution system studies and California Environmental Quality Act analysis and report. BACKGROUND: Pellisier Ranch is a 227-acre parcel of vacant land owned by Riverside Public Utilities' (RPU) Water Division, located in the City of Colton. In the past ten years, there have been several attempts by the City and other parties to develop this parcel, Though there continues to be an interest in developing this parcel, to date no non-utility developments have come to fruition. Over the past two years, RPU conducted a preliminary assessment of utility infrastructure that will be needed in the future, and identified several key elements including: (a) groundwater replenishment and production facilities as part of the prudent management of the City's groundwater resources to serve its future water needs; (b) local renewable resources to serve future load growth while meeting and potentially exceeding state mandates on renewable resources and distributed generation resources; and (c) new distribution substation to serve the City's future electric load growth. Pellisier Ranch was identified through this preliminary assessment as an ideal site that can accommodate such utility infrastructure developments. Each of the outlined uses of the site for future utility infrastructure will ultimately need to be justified on their own merit after further technical, economic and environmental feasibility evaluations. Given the extensive scope of the envisioned utility infrastructure development, staff is recommending that a phased approach be undertaken. The evaluation of the proposed Pellisier Solar Project utilizing approximately 100 acres for a ten megawatt facility would be the first phase of the development, followed by subsequent phases for the groundwater replenishment facilities, utilizing approximately 70 acres, and a new electric substation on the remaining ten to 20 acres of the parcel. A preliminary internal scoping of the Pellisier Ranch Solar PV Project has recently been completed via the joint efforts of Water Division and Electric Division staff. The next step for the Pellisier Ranch Solar PV Project is to conduct the site-specific environmental impact assessment pursuant to CEQA and the preliminary electric distribution design work to interconnect the Pellisier Ranch Solar PV Project to Riverside's distribution system. It is anticipated that the City will be the lead agency for the CEQA related