Floating Solar on Sweetwater Reservoir Update—The Good and The Bad

January 1, 2025 | On Saturday December 14, 2024, the Sweetwater Authority’s Governing Board convened for approximately two hours and twenty minutes to focus on their Sweetwater Reservoir floating solar project. The special board meeting agenda packet, which was over 200 pages, was released the day before.

Spoiler alert: Local advocates, the Sweetwater Valley Civic Association, Spring Valley Community Planning Group, Sweetwater Community Planning Group, and Save Sweetwater Reservoir, got what they asked for.

The Good

• The draft Initial (environmental) Studies were finally released to the public.

• An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) will be conducted to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for their proposed floating solar project. This will set their “time is of the essence” project back by more than a year.

• The EIR process begins by conducting scoping meetings with the public and identifying feasible alternatives.

• Noria Energy’s term sheet (sole source contract) will expire on January 5, 2025. The Sweetwater Authority rejected Noria Energy’s proposals to remain as the agency’s “sole source” floating solar consultant/ energy partner.

• The Sweetwater Authority intends to hire a renewable energy manager/ consultant using a competitive procurement process in the near future.

• The Sweetwater Authority revealed that including a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) has been under discussion. However, BESS is not yet an approved “project component.”

The Bad

• The Sweetwater Authority’s floating solar expansion component with community partners (such as the San Diego Community Power) was not explained.

• A majority of the Board (Chair Paulina Martinez-Perez, Vice Chair Hector Martinez, Director Manny Delgado, and Director Ditas Yamane) heeded staff’s recommendation to advance the EIR at this time without knowing the (project) costs.

• Director Elizabeth Cox’s substitute motion (to pause the project for 3 to 6 months to get questions answered) failed.

• Director Ron Morrison, who seconded Director Cox’s motion, predicted that the agency would face (costly) change orders from initiating the EIR prematurely.

• The Sweetwater Authority will begin their EIR process without a floating solar technical advisor. How exactly their floating solar project’s design and development will continue remains to be seen.

• Sweetwater Authority allegedly misrepresented Noria Energy’s efforts over the past 18 months in their special board meeting agenda packet.

• Detailed project information, which included two different types of floating photovoltaic arrays, was not made available to the public well in advance of this special board meeting.

Written by Common Sense Reader

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