Negotiations with solar developers move forward
The Imperial Irrigation District voted unanimously in favor of producing a letter of intent to begin negotiations with DF Ventures for possibly leasing IID land in the Mount Signal area for the possible development of a solar project during their Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday.
Vice president of the board Norma Sierra Galindo, in her motion prior to the vote, requested staff to produce a letter of intent to negotiate with DF Ventures in the next 10 days and authorizing the general manager to engage in the negotiations for an option/lease agreement.
The land in question is more than 760 acres located in the southwestern portion of the county near the Mount Signal area, which the IID is currently leasing to farmers.
General Counsel Frank Oswalt told the board he preferred the IID come up with a letter of interest, like the one presented by DF Ventures, to ensure it meets the conditions and milestones the IID believes are appropriate.
President of the board Bruce Kuhn, to clear the record, said the current tenants will be able to remain on the land through the end of 2018. He further explained those tenants have a favorable lease agreement precisely to allow the IID to get it back if they needed it for another use.
“Tenant farmers’ lease which they currently have is very favorable in case we needed to use this land for other uses,” Kuhn said. “While they would be leaving the land, the lease that they have signed made them aware that if something came up and needed, we could do it and that is why they got a favorable rent.”
Kuhn said the developers are willing to pay a few different fees to the IID, including solar option revenue, farmer tenant rent, lease rent when the project moves forward, transmission access fee and wheeling charges.
“If they are willing to do that, it certainly makes it palatable,” Kuhn said.
Although the proponents of the project plan to export the electricity generated beyond IID’s service area, DF Ventures, if it reaches an agreement with the IID, is expected to pay the agency $800,000 and almost 10 times more from what the IID receives from current tenants.
Kevin Kelley, IID’s general manager, said the project is different than its surrounding counterparts as the other solar developments have bypassed the IID and the DF ventures remedied that concern by working with the energy department to pay wheeling charges. Galindo added that if the project was just a bypass, most likely the board wouldn’t have considered it.
The board approved the proposal to produce a letter of intent to start negotiations with a 4-0 vote.
“I would like to mention that the board approval or not of this project does not mean that we are condoning free for all solar as is the consensus in the community,” Galindo said. “IID is not in the business to do solar ... so please don’t think that by going with this project we are supporting or condoning any more solar projects.”