■ Ranchers, farmers and environmentalists are coming together to oppose what would be the largest solar plant

Opposition to planned solar plant slowing push to combat climate change

Like many who live in this pastoral valley near Livermore, Calif., Chris O’Brien is a believer in renewable energy. The 61year-old logistics business owner outfitted his barn with solar panels that power his 50-acre ranch where he grows oat hay, raises horses and grazes cattle.

“Everyone here is in favour of green energy,” O’Brien said.

But that support has its limits. When he learned of plans to build a giant solar farm next door to his property — the kind of project that would help meet the state’s clean energy goals — O’Brien decided he had to fight it. It was exactly the sort of thing that would spoil the rural landscape he says should be protected by a local anti-development measure.

O’Brien is part of a group of ranchers, farmers and environmentalists who oppose what would be the largest solar plant built in the San Francisco Bay Area. The clash offers a preview of potential disputes that could slow the ambitious push by California and the Biden Administration to develop clean energy to combat climate change.

The Aramis Renewable Energy Project, developed by Intersect Power, would cover about 350 acres of private pastureland with more than 300 eightfoot-high solar panels that can generate 100 megawatts of carbon-free electricity, or enough to power 25,000 homes annually.

“Anyone who understands the scale of the climate crisis knows we need to go faster and we need to build at a much larger scale,” said Carlo De La Cruz, a deputy regional director for the Sierra Club, which supports the Aramis project. “California is one of the most progressive states when it comes to climate policies, but we still need to build more clean energy to meet our climate targets.”

Opponents of the project, including a group O’Brien chairs called Save North Livermore Valley and the Ohlone Audubon Society, recently sued the county of Alameda, which approved the solar farm earlier this year, saying that the renewable energy facility would violate a voter-approved measure designed to protect open space, agriculture and wildlife habitat.

Biden has set an ambitious target of ridding carbon from the U.S. grid by 2035. To meet its goal of a carbon-neutral grid by 2045, California will need to triple its annual solar and wind installations, according to a recent state study. That means the state may need to develop as much as 3.1 million acres for solar and wind projects by the middle of the century, according to a different report by the Nature Conservancy.

While solar and wind farms don’t come with environmentally damaging fossil-fuel extraction and the polluting smokestacks of coal and natural-gas plants, they generally require more acres to develop. Land can be farmed around wind turbines, but that’s trickier with solar plants.

And some of the new clean energy projects will likely need to be built closer to the cities and towns that will use the power.

Intersect Power chief executive officer Sheldon Kimber said the company’s project has gotten all the necessary government approvals and has received “an enormous amount of support” from local political leaders, businesses, residents and environmental groups.

The company has inked contracts to sell the solar power to public-run power agencies in Alameda County and San Francisco, helping them achieve their clean energy goals, Kimber said.

To mitigate environmental concerns, the solar panels will be set back from a local creek and avoid federally designated habitat for the threatened California red-legged frog. The company will develop a hiking trail along the creek for the county as well.

Opponents, however, remain undaunted.

Save North Livermore Valley, the group of about 400 ranchers, farmers and other local citizens that includes O’Brien, has set up a GoFundMe to help raise money for its litigation fight.