Located in Kern County, California, the Barren Ridge solar project, also known as the RE Cinco project, produces enough clean electricity to power more than 25,000 homes. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is purchasing this electricity under a long-term power purchase agreement. U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation is an equity partner in the Barren Ridge facility, which is the first of four Recurrent Energy solar projects in Kern County scheduled for completion in 2016.
Benefits
The Barren Ridge solar project began construction in fall 2015 and created 230 peak construction jobs. The project will generate approximately $9.6M in tax revenue for Kern County, as well as $5.5M in tax revenue for the state of California.
In addition to constructing the Barren Ridge solar project, Recurrent Energy built a two mile gen-tie line to connect to LADWP’s electrical grid at the Barren Ridge Switching Station.
The gen-tie, which runs near existing high-voltage transmission lines, was designed to consolidate power lines into a single corridor and minimize land use and visual impacts. Located on public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Barren Ridge gen-tie line was vetted and approved by BLM; the Barren Ridge solar facility itself is sited on private land.
