Supervisors boost renewable energy

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• Solar job fairs attract hundreds

  Solar job fairs attract hundreds

  More than 800 people hope to land jobs to turn the California Valley into one of the state’s major renewable power hubs. That’s how many people attended three job fairs this week — on the Carrizo Plain, in San Luis Obispo and in Paso Robles — for approximately 400 temporary construction jobs building the Topaz Solar Farm on the eastern edge of the Carrizo Plain.

  First Solar plans to break ground in September or October on the three-year, 3,500-acre project, which will create enough energy to power 160,000 homes, and San Luis Obispo County residents will receive priority in hiring.

  The 550-megawatt solar farm is the second industrial-scale solar project approved for the Carrizo Plain. Sun Power’s 250-megawatt California Valley Solar Ranch was also approved by county supervisors earlier this year, and more than 200 attended a job fair last month to fill local positions for that project.

• Breaking ground in California Valley: Sun rises on new solar farm

  Breaking ground in California Valley: Sun rises on new solar farm

  A forest of thousands of sturdy metal posts is sprouting in the wide open spaces of California Valley.

  The posts will eventually support 720,000 photovoltaic panels that will be part of the California Valley Solar Ranch, one of the world’s largest facilities to turn sunlight into electricity.

  Several hundred people gathered at the project site near the Kern County line in eastern San Luis Obispo County on Thursday to celebrate the beginning of construction. No mention was made of financial losses recently experienced by parent company SunPower of San Jose, which have caused the resignation of three top executives.

• Groups challenge Topaz Solar Farm in court

  Groups challenge Topaz Solar Farm in court

  Two local environmental groups are legally challenging the second commercial solar project on the Carrizo Plain.

  In a lawsuit filed Friday in San Luis Obispo Superior Court, North County Watch and Carrizo Commons challenged the county’s July 12 approval of the 550-megawatt Topaz Solar Farm.

  The primary contention of the suit is that the large photovoltaic facility will damage the Carrizo Plain ecosystem, a common theme throughout the county’s regulatory review of the project.

• Viewpoint: Plenty of places for solar plants

  Viewpoint: Plenty of places for solar plants

  The Tribune lobbed a “solar-powered brickbat” at North County Watch after we signed a settlement agreement requiring First Solar to shut down its Carrizo Plain solar plant and restore the industrialized site when its permits expire some three decades hence.

  The Tribune’s attempt to set up an adversarial straw man — “OK, so let’s shut down solar and drill more oil wells, shall we?” — is a superficial, off-point sound bite that fails to acknowledge the issues or the collaborative nature of settlement agreements.

  The point: There are plenty of good places to build solar power plants. The Carrizo, home to the highest number of endangered and threatened species in California, was the last place that should have been selected for one, let alone two. In this context, the tired “NIMBYism” criticism is shameful and absurd. The presence of species fully protected by the National Endangered Species Act (NEPA) and the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) and numerous other laws make this a statewide and national

• Warren Buffett buys Carrizo solar farm

  Warren Buffett buys Carrizo solar farm

  Billionaire investor Warren Buffett now owns a piece of San Luis Obispo County.

  First Solar announced this week that it has entered into an agreement to sell its 550-megawatt Topaz Solar Farm in the Carrizo Plain to MidAmerica Energy Holdings, which is owned by Buffett’s multinational holding company Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

  First Solar will continue to build and operate the huge photovoltaic plant, but MidAmerica will be the owner. The solar farm is estimated to be worth more than $2 billion.