Renewable Energy

We piloted permitting, species and habitat mitigation, and monitoring and compliance support efforts at the California Valley Solar Ranch (CVSR). This nearly 1600-acre solar facility in eastern San Luis Obispo County provides 250 megawatts of renewable energy to Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s utility grid. In this resource-rich site, we worked with the development team to avoid most impacts to special-status species by carefully siting the arrays and roadways. We developed an extensive mitigation plan for the remaining impacts, which helped preserve and enhance nearly 10,000 acres of on-site and nearby habitats. Our team crafted and implemented more than 200 interwoven biological compliance requirements, and monitored resources and construction activities. We worked with agencies, stakeholders, and contractors throughout the project.

Permitting

The project had dozens of diverse and interconnected permit requirements related to biological resources. Our activities covered:

• planning and obtaining all permits required under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act;
• coordinating with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) on approvals related to State- and federally listed species
• delineated wetlands to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers standards, and
• preparing documents and implementing steps to meet the requirements of all permits

To mitigate project impacts, our restoration experts developed detailed habitat restoration plans and specifications—including construction documents—for approximately 2000 acres of grasslands and shrub lands.