Two small, cash-strapped cities in western Fresno County expect to get some much-needed income from solar power.
SolarGen USA, a Colorado company, has signed leases with Huron and Firebaugh to use city-owned property in each town to develop fields of solar panels to generate electricity.
While other plans for the county’s west side would cover thousands of acres with solar panels or mirrors, SolarGen’s proposals are relatively modest — 40 acres in Huron, about 50 acres in Firebaugh.
Each plant could generate about 5 megawatts of electricity.
A megawatt (MW) is typically estimated to be enough to serve 500 to 800 homes.
“Any little bit of money, we’ll take it, especially when it goes to our general fund,” Ramirez said.
Huron’s City Council inked a contract Wednesday evening with Carmine Iadarola, one of SolarGen’s principals, to lease 40 acres in the city’s fledgling industrial park.
The pact calls for SolarGen to pay $300 an acre and 2% of SolarGen’s gross revenue from selling power to PG&E, said Gerald Forde, Huron’s city manager. “Our initial pro forma indicated that we could see between $40,000 and $50,000 a year in revenue,” Forde said.
SolarGen was introduced to the two cities by Fresno County economic development officials as it sought development sites in Central California, Iadarola said.
“We’ve built real strong relationships with both cities and hope to produce some lease and tax revenue for them,” Iadarola said.
SolarGen will make its money by selling electricity to a utility such as Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
Iadarola said SolarGen hopes to break ground by this summer in Firebaugh and later in 2010 in Huron. He said the company has more than a dozen other projects planned on private land in the western part of the county.
While construction may produce some short-term jobs for local residents, Iadarola said a plant needs minimal staff.
But as more are built, Iadarola said, “there will be a tremendous need for a maintenance facility … to serve the growing array of solar facilities.” Ultimately, the collective demand could create 40 or more high-tech maintenance jobs for area residents.
Currently, the only utility-scale solar-panel field built in Fresno County is a 40-acre, 5 MW plant built in Mendota by Cleantech America.
