Although voters will consider banning fracking here in less than a month, Butte County officials are trying to ease the way for more energy production.
They’re not looking underground though. They’re looking up.
Dan Breedon is a principal planner with Butte County. He said the effort, which aims to remove red tape, is in line with state and county renewable energy goals.
“The county really is trying to be proactive in anticipating utility scale solar coming to the county to meet very ambitious renewable energy goals set forth by the governor, to bring more renewable energy into the county’s use and into the state’s use as well,” Breedon said.
While the vast majority new solar plants have been built in the Southern California desert, Breedon said there has been interest here. He said the county has received four or five informal proposals.
Ultimately, officials hope to designate a "solar overlay zone" — specific areas where solar plants could rise without harming residents, agriculture or protected wildlife.
About 8,000 acres have been identified.
“Some areas in the county where we believe that it’s least conflicting with all these other resources that Butte County has,” Breedon said.
Local ranchers have expressed some concerns. They fear solar development could limit access to rangeland.
The matter is tentatively scheduled to be heard by the planning commission May 26 and by the Board of Supervisors June 28.