Hedge ESS Flow Battery Pilot and Demonstration Project Phase 1B
Summary
SCH Number
2023070535
Public Agency
Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Document Title
Hedge ESS Flow Battery Pilot and Demonstration Project Phase 1B
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
7/25/2023
Document Description
The proposed Hedge ESS Flow Battery Pilot and Demonstration Project Phase 1B (Project) consists of a 3.63-megawatt (MW) / 29 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system facility at the southern end of the Sacramento Power Academy. This Project was evaluated under a separate CEQA analysis; however, the project has been modified and therefore a new evaluation was performed. The Project site area is approximately 6 acres and adjacently south of the existing Hedge Battery Energy Storage System onsite. The Project site is characterized as barren and disturbed and occupied by existing solar panels.
The phase referred to as Phase 1B is proposed to start in Spring 2024. Phase 1B would establish twenty-nine (29) ESS Inc. Energy Center battery storage system containers. Each unit measures 40 feet long by 8 feet wide by 20 feet high and would be placed side-by-side in four rows of seven to eight containers oriented north to south. The solar panels currently occupying the Phase 1B project area would be removed and disposed of at an appropriate landfill. The ground surface would be covered with crushed gravel and all battery containers would be placed on helical piers. The Project would also include associated support equipment (i.e. inverters, transformers, switchgear, metering, etc.) and two concrete pads for the supporting equipment and underground containment basins. In addition, up to 1,000 feet of trenching at a depth of 4 feet would be required for the installation of electrical conduit and cable from the energy storage system to existing equipment.
Contact Information
Name
Ammon Rice
Agency Name
SMUD
Job Title
Supervisor, Environmental Services
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Email
Location
Coordinates
Counties
Sacramento
Regions
Northern California
Zip
95829
Township
08N
Range
06E
Section
31
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
15303 (New Construction),15304 (Minor Alterations to Land), and 15061(b)(3)
Reasons for Exemption
SMUD has reviewed and determined that the Project is categorically exempt from the provisions of CEQA pursuant to Sections 15301 (Existing Facilities), 15303 (New Construction), 15304 (Minor Alterations to Land), and Section 15061 (b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption). Section 15301 applies to projects that consists of the operation, repair, maintenance, permitting, leasing, licensing, or minor alternations of existing public or private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, involving negligible or no expansion of use beyond that existing at the time of the lead agency’s determination; (b) Existing facilities of both investor and publicly owned utilities used to provide electric power, natural gas, sewerage, or other public utility services. Thus, the Project will involve the minor alternation of an existing power generation facility and would not result in expansion of use. Section 15303 consists of construction and location of limited numbers of new, small facilities or structures; installation of small new equipment and facilities in small structures. The numbers of structures described in this section are the maximum allowable on any legal parcel. The Project would not exceed the maximum allowable structures on any legal parcel. Section 15304 consists of minor public or private alterations in the condition of land, water, and/or vegetation which do not involve removal of healthy, mature, scenic trees except for forestry or agricultural purposes, including (f) Minor trenching and backfilling where the surface is restored. The Project would not remove any healthy, mature, or scenic trees. The trenching would be temporary and the surface would be restored. The Common Sense Exemption in Section 15061 (b)(3) states that “Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA”. All work will be within the existing SMUD-owned parcel and there is no possibility that the activity may have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, no further environmental review is required.
County Clerk
Sacramento
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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