8. Feasibility of Alternatives
CEQA defines feasible as "capable of being accomplished in a successful manner within a reasonable period of time, taking into account economic, environmental, social, and technological factors." (Pub. Res. Code § 21061.1; CEQA Guidelines § 15364.)
8.1. Infeasibility of Avoidance Alternative #1
Avoidance Alternative #1 is infeasible because it cannot be accomplished in a successful manner within a reasonable period of time. Specifically, the likely time required to complete it poses a significant risk that the 1000 MW Blythe Solar Power Project and the 250 Genesis Solar Energy Project will be delayed and/or cancelled and, therefore, it would impede the ability of California to meet its renewable energy goals in a timely fashion.
The proposed substation expansion project has a planned operation date of May 6, 2013, which would enable the Blythe Solar Power Project and the Genesis Solar Energy Project to interconnect to the substation and begin commercial operation by November 2013 or earlier. Avoidance Alternative #1 would cause the substation's operation date to be delayed by at least six months due to its partial location on private lands and the need to redesign and reengineer the substation to the site, and would require the Blythe Solar Power Project and Genesis Solar Energy Project to acquire private land for the re-located gen-tie, which may not be possible due to their lack of eminent domain power. The expected delay will potentially prevent Blythe Solar Power Project from obtaining Department of Energy (DOE) financing and delay, if not cancel, the project, and would prevent the Genesis Solar Power Project from operating in time for the summer 2013 peak season, which would deprive Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) of renewable energy that would otherwise serve its renewable portfolio standard requirements in effect in 2013. The cancellation of the Blythe Solar Power Project would detract from the ability of California to meet its renewable energy goals, and the delay of either project would delay California's progress.
The proposed project is located entirely on public land, while Avoidance Alternative #1 is partly located on private land. While the proposed project site would require SCE to obtain permits and rights-of-way only from the BLM,7 Avoidance Alternative #1 would require SCE to negotiate with the private land owners and to possibly initiate condemnation proceedings in order to obtain the properties. SCE's witness Brett Paulson testified that the process of preparing an offer to purchase and negotiate in good faith for the property is approximately a six-month process and that the process of pursuing possession through condemnation would require six to 12 months thereafter. (Ex. 1, at 12-15.)
Avoidance Alternative #1 would also require the Blythe Solar Power Project and the Genesis Solar Power Project to purchase property from private landowners for their gen-tie transmission lines connecting to the substation which, under the proposed project, would be located entirely on public land. As Solar Millennium and NextEra do not have the power of eminent domain, the possibility that the private landowners are not willing to grant the necessary rights at a reasonable price or at all poses the likelihood that the projects could not be completed.
In addition, since Avoidance Alternative #1 changes the orientation of the substation from that of the proposed project, SCE would require additional time to redesign and reengineer the substation at that site. Specifically, SCE would need to redesign the line and bus arrangements coming into both the 500 kV and 220 kV portions of the substation, which requires prior approval by several different planning and operations departments within SCE; complete a geotechnical investigation to characterize surface and blow grade soil conditions (which would require approval from the private landowners to access the property to do the field work); and engineer the taller transmission towers that would likely be required in order to cross the FPL Buck-Julian Hinds 220 kV line to bring the 500 kV transmission lines into the substation at this site. SCE's witness Scott Lacy testified that this work would require approximately seven to ten months more than would be required for the proposed project. (Ex. 1, at 19-22.)
The development of the Blythe Solar Power Project is dependent upon a $2.1 billion loan to be guaranteed by the DOE pursuant to the loan guarantee program authorized pursuant to Section 1705 of Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.8 Section 1705 is a temporary program that authorizes federal loan guarantees and subsidies for, among other things, certain renewable energy projects that reach financial close by September 30, 2011. The DOE has identified the uncertainty regarding the in-service date of the Colorado River Substation as a material risk to the ability of the Blythe Solar Power Project to meet its commercial operation date, both for purposes of having the back feed power it requires prior to commercial operation and for purposes of being able to sell power to SCE upon commercial operation. The expected delay that would result from construction of Avoidance Alternative #1 will potentially prevent Blythe Solar Power Project from obtaining DOE financing and delay, if not cancel, the project. (Ex. 2, at 2-5.)
Pursuant to a power purchase agreement between Genesis Solar and PG&E, the Genesis Solar Power Project is scheduled to begin commercial operation in May 2013, in time for the summer 2013 peak season. If the Genesis Solar Power Project is not able to operate in time to capture the summer peak revenues, it might be economic for Genesis Solar to delay and restart construction in order to be on-line before the summer 2014 peak season, which would deprive PG&E of renewable energy that would otherwise serve its renewable portfolio standard requirements in effect in 2013. (Ex. 3, at 4-5.)
In consideration of the fact that the likely time required to complete Avoidance Alternative #1 poses a significant risk that the 1000 MW Blythe Solar Power Project and the 250 MW Genesis Solar Energy Project will be delayed and/or cancelled and thereby impede the ability of California to meet its renewable energy goals in a timely fashion, we find that Avoidance Alternative #1 is infeasible.
SCE, NextEra and Solar Millennium argue that Avoidance Alternative #1 is also infeasible because it would not achieve SCE's stated project objective that the substation be constructed in time to allow it to interconnect with the Blythe Solar Power Project and Genesis Solar Power Project generation tie lines by the target dates established in the parties' Large Generator Interconnection Agreements (LGIA). To the contrary, the parties' inability to meet their contractual commitments is not determinative of the infeasibility of the environmentally superior project alternatives.
CARE argues in its reply brief that there is insubstantial evidence that it is infeasible for Avoidance Alternative #1 to meet the project objective of completing the substation in time to interconnect the approved solar power projects by their respective LGIA target dates, because the LGIA for the Blythe Solar Power Project is not in the record, and because the LGIA for the Genesis Solar Power Project is still being negotiated. Because we find Avoidance Alternative #1 to be infeasible on other grounds, we do not reach these issues.
CARE challenges the assertion that SCE's acquisition of the private land required to implement Avoidance Alternative #1 will take considerable time by alleging that the land value in the area is relatively low and suggesting that SCE need only offer double its (allegedly) low value in order to timely achieve its objective. CARE offers no support for its allegation of the land value, and CARE's witness Michael Boyd does not identify any qualifications that demonstrate his expertise on the subject of land value.9 Furthermore, while it is arguably likely that a private landowner might sell if offered twice the property's fair market value, Commission precedent would not allow SCE to recover unreasonable costs from ratepayers.
8.2. Southern Alternative
There is no evidence and no party asserts that the Southern Alternative, which is the next in preference in terms of environmental superiority, is infeasible.
The Southern Alternative would locate the substation and the generation tie lines entirely on public lands. Therefore, the Southern Alternative would not incur any delays attributable to the acquisition of land relative to the proposed project.
The Southern Alternative would orient the substation in a manner that is very similar to the proposed project with respect to the routing of transmission and gen-tie lines. As a result, although the redesign and reengineering of the project at the Southern Alternative location would incur a delay of one to four months relative to the proposed project, it would be much reduced relative to the seven to 10 months that would be required to redesign and reengineer the project at the Avoidance Alternative #1 location.
Therefore, we find that the Southern Alternative is feasible and should be approved.
8.3. Remaining Alternatives and Proposed Project
Because the Southern Alternative is environmentally superior to Avoidance Alternative #2, Avoidance Alternative #3, the Partial Avoidance Alternative, the Proposed Project and the No Project Alternative and, because we approve the Southern Alternative, we need not reach conclusions as to the feasibility of the remaining alternatives.
7 As the BLM has approved the Blythe Solar Power Project and the Genesis Solar Energy Project, it is reasonable to assume that the BLM will grant SCE the right to use the public lands under its management for this purpose.
8 Section 1705 was added to Title XVII by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
9 CARE witness Michael Boyd describes his qualifications as being a "[s]olutions oriented Engineer with a proven track record of effective component manufacturing development engineering in the medical device, microelectronics, telecommunication, semi-conductor, and hard drive industry."
