The San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a major use permit for a controversial solar and battery storage project in the East County on Wednesday during a land use meeting.
Dozens of residents made the hour-long drive from the rural community of Boulevard to the San Diego County Administration Center to voice their opposition to the project, called Starlight Solar.
It’s a 588-acre project that includes solar panels and an 868 megawatt-hour battery energy storage system. It will be one of the largest facilities of its kind in the county.
“We're fully opposed to this project and we do not give our consent,” said Thomas Wall, a Boulevard resident and community organizer at the meeting.
After the vote, Wall told KPBS he was disappointed the board approved the major use permit for the project, even with a few amendments.
Those amendments include a condition to require baseline groundwater monitoring and testing.
Another amendment requires the developer to pursue the Disadvantaged Communities Green Tariffs Program to provide additional benefits to community members prior to construction.
Notably, Phase II of the project’s battery energy storage system was kept in its original northern location rather than moved as far south as possible — further away from the community.
The Planning Commission recommended the change in July.
“If we were to move the batteries (in) the Phase II south, it would add overhead power lines that we don't need and it would've added costs,” said Jim Whalen, the project's land use consultant.
Wall and other Boulevard residents are concerned about the proximity of the battery storage containers and the impacts lithium battery fires could have on their community — especially the toxic gas they produce.
“It's not if a fire happens, it's when a fire happens," he said. "It's going to happen and it's super dangerous.”
Fires have broken out at battery storage facilities in Otay Mesa and Escondido in recent years.
The Boulevard residents also have concerns about keeping their local water supply clean and the way the project will alter the rural environment.
“I am not against renewable energy,” Boulevard resident Susan Fogle said. “I am against the belief that rural communities should continually be asked to carry the burden of industrial development because we have something increasingly rare in California, and that's open land.”
Projects such as Starlight Solar help meet the county and state’s green energy goals. Some environmental groups and labor union representatives spoke in favor of the project during the meeting.
Whalen, the project’s land use consultant, said the landowner has committed to a community benefits agreement with a $1 million up-front payment and approximately $7 million more as the project begins Phase II.
“Phase I is distinctive because it is the only phase that has an interconnection agreement with SDG&E and only phase that has a power purchase agreement also with SDG&E,” he said. “Phase II does not have an interconnection — that's why we had to leave it open as to when those payments will be made because we haven't sold the power.”
Notably, the county is in the process of creating a Battery Energy Storage Systems Zoning Ordinance Amendment — which could impact projects like this one.
“The fact that we got unanimous votes from the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors tells us, tells the world, that this is a good project,” Whalen said.
Whalen said Phase I of the project should break ground in about a year.
Despite the outcome of the vote, Wall said the Boulevard community has come together over the issue.
“This is sending a message to any other people that want to come out here and do renewable energy projects: you're not going to go through an easy process. We are pushing and we will always push back, and you are not welcome,” Wall said.
Back Country Community Alliance for Responsible Development, an organization co-founded by Boulevard residents, said it plans to file a lawsuit to stop the project.
