SCH Number 2022020479

Project Info

Title

USE PERMIT APPLICATION NO. PLN2021-0111 – BELTRAN SOLAR ENERGY CENTER

Description

Request to amend Use Permit No. 2011-11 – Beltran Ranch Solar Farm, which was approved by the Stanislaus County Planning Commission on April 18, 2013 to construct a utility-grade 140 megawatt (MW) solar facility comprised of three phases on 606± acres of a 1,720± acre project site. A Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) was prepared and adopted in conjunction with the approved project. A Time Extension, granting the applicant an additional five years to construct, was approved by the Planning Commission on February 15, 2018. Staff Approvals may be requested in accordance with Section 21.100 – Staff Approvals which allows up to 25% increase of a use approved by Use Permit; however, the current request is an expansion of the approved facility by more than 25% which requires a new Use Permit. The proposed modifications will remain within the project footprint approved in 2013, on land regularly disturbed in conjunction with on-site crops and crop rotation, with the exception of a proposed 400-foot-wide 24.5 kilovolt (kV) collector line, which will be located outside of the original project site in order to connect to a substation located on the Proxima Solar Energy Center, approved by Staff Approval Permit No. PLN2020-0061. The 2013 project identified three phases totaling 606 acres (113, 167, and 326 acres approved for each phase respectively) within the 1,720-acre project site to be developed over the course of three to four years. To date, none of the phases have been developed. The applicant is proposing to develop the project in a single phase within an 18-month construction schedule and expand the overall development footprint by up to 211± acres depending on the chosen collector line alignment, from 606 acres to 817± acres, to be contained within the overall project area originally analyzed in the 2013 MND.

3 documents in project