OptiSolar Executive Vice President Phil Rettger, left, talks with ranchers Darrell Twisselman and Dale Kuhnle while looking over examples of the firm’s solar panels Thursday in the Carrisa Plains. The Twisselman and Kuhnle families are negotiating to sell part of their land for the project.
A Bay Area-based firm that’s looking to develop a 550-megawatt solar energy farm on the Carrisa Plains released more details Thursday on the proposed project slated to generate enough electricity to power 190,000 homes.
OptiSolar’s $1 billion-plus Topaz Solar Farm, which would cover approximately 9 square miles with photovoltaic panels two miles north of Bitterwater Road off Highway 58, could bring more than 300 construction- related jobs to the area.
When complete, it would also employ about 10 maintenance, managerial and security workers to oversee the site from a prefabricated trailer.
Salaries for those positions are being determined, Phil Rettger, executive vice president of the Haywardbased firm said.
OptiSolar officials anticipate submitting an application to the county in May for a conditional use permit.
If approved, construction could begin in early 2009 and will last almost three years, Rettger said.
Rettger said his firm is in talks with a number of utilities to buy power from this and other projects on tap.
The purchase of the site is being negotiated for an undisclosed sum with the Twisselmans and Kuhnles, local families that have owned the land since 1884.
Negotiations for the parcel — which is less than 10 percent of the families’ collective 150,000-acre property on the plains—will allow them a pool of funds to
keep the land in a way that has the least impact on neighbors, Dale Kuhnle said.
“If we can sell a little bit to hold on to the rest of our land,” Darrell Twisselman said, “then it’s worth it to let us preserve the lifestyle out here.”
Traffic, noise and aesthetics are among the concerns of the area’s locals, Kuhnle said.
OptiSolar officials said they are addressing these concerns by promising that most of the construction traffic would be routed from Bitterwater Road to Highway 46 and not on Highway 58.
As well, the solar panels’ tops are less than 5 feet off the ground and half a mile from Highway 58, which helps keep them out of sight, Rettger said.
The panels don’t involve moving parts, so noise levels will be low, he added.
Officials will file for an environmental impact report and host community consultations to hear public concern, said Kathryn Arbeit, OptiSolar’s director of business development.
OptiSolar has a flurry of other solar projects planned for Southern California and more than 20 sites in Canada.
Founded in 2005, the firm employs more than 270 people. Many of them, including one of the main designers of the solar farm, are Cal Poly graduates.
Last year, Ausra Inc., based in Palo Alto in the Bay Area, announced plans to build a 177-megawatt solar plant — enough to power between 132,000 and 177,000 homes — on 640 acres near the Carrizo Plain National Monument.
The bulk of OptiSolar’s panels would be a half-mile from the southern edge of the Ausra plant, Arbeit said.
Ausra is seeking a state permit and hopes to begin construction in 2009.
—Tonya Strickland
Chili’s opens near A. G. Trader Joe’s
The second Chili’s in San Luis Obispo County opened in Arroyo Grande on Thursday.
The chain restaurant is at 991 Rancho Parkway at the Trader Joe’s shopping center off Highway 101.
The hilltop restaurant held a ribbon cutting with Arroyo Grande chamber and city officials to kick off its opening.
Chili’s has a 540-square-foot patio and more than 900 square feet of indoor dining space.
The county’s other Chili’s opened in Paso Robles just over a year ago.
—Dawn White
Industry group lauds SLO media firm’s ads
San Luis Obispo-based Peregrine Media Group recently won several Addy awards from the American Advertising Foundation for its SLO County Passport Card and Marian Medical Center campaigns.
One of the awards was a bronze medal for a television commercial advertising Passport, and another was for the overall campaign touting the restaurant and entertainment guide and discount card.
The other five bronze medals were for works produced for Marian Medical Center in 2007.
Original concepts for Passport were developed by Passport Media Enterprises, and final scripts and creative design were developed by Peregrine’s Robin Chilton, who also produced and directed the campaign, according to officials at Peregrine.
Peregrine is a “script to screen” TV ad production company. Passport has been producing a local entertainment guide and savings card for more than five years.
—Antonio A. Prado
Spanish class for bank employees at Cuesta
Twelve Mission Community Bank employees recently completed the Workplace Spanish for Banking course from Cuesta College’s Institute for Professional Development.
The eight-week class covered basic Spanish dialogue, expressions and banking terminology to help employees serve Spanish-speaking clients.
The sessions, which employees took voluntarily, took place in the evening at 581 Higuera St., the bank’s downtown San Luis Obispo office.
Mission Community Bank is locally owned with offices in Arroyo Grande, San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles, a San Luis Obispo business banking center and a new Santa Maria branch to open in 2008.
—Tonya Strickland
•••
T. Keith Gurnee of the San Luis Obispo architecture firm RRM Design Group was recently appointed to the nonprofit Waterfront Center’s board of advisers.
After 30 years in San Luis Obispo — including time as a City Council member and a principal at RRM—Gurnee is now headquartered in RRM’s Sausalito office.
Though no longer a resident of San Luis Obispo, the Cal Poly graduate’s new roles include refining California’s General Plan law and promoting waterfront revitalization, said Jami Padilla, RRM marketing coordinator.
As well, Gurnee was recently voted in as a member of the California Planning Roundtable, an organization in which he served as a member from 1997-2002.
—Tonya Strickland
•••
Recently added bulk mailing equipment is now allowing San Luis Print and Copy to mail postcards, newsletters and other documents it produces for customers.
Established in 1989, the business offers printing, duplicating and graphic design services at 265 South St., Suite E, in San Luis Obispo.
•••
The Economic Vitality Corp. of San Luis Obispo County recently received a $7,500 grant from AT&T.
The funds will go toward upgrading the nonprofit organization’s computer and service technology, as well as mobile technology for economic development fieldwork.
Mike Silacci, AT&T’s external affairs director, presented a check to Mike Manchak, EVC president and chief executive, at a February ceremony at Cal Poly.
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