The Sixth District Court of Appeal ruled Tuesday in favor of PV2 Energy and the county in the lawsuit from Save Panoche Valley, the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society over the 399-megawatt solar farm proposed in San Benito County.
The ruling was filed Tuesday in the San Jose-based appeals district and also includes a requirement for the petitioners to pay the county’s appeal costs. The decision should pave the way for current solar project owners to eventually move ahead, once they obtain a power purchase agreement.
Save Panoche Valley and the national organizations had contended that the county erred in its approval of an environmental impact report, cancellation of Williamson Act contracts and other matters.
The appeals court in its 32-page ruling denied all of the petitioner’s claims.
A judge in 2011 initially ruled against the environmental groups that sued an energy company and tried to halt its 399-megawatt solar project in the Panoche Valley. Visiting San Benito County Judge Robert O’Farrell in August 2011 sided with the county and PV2 Energy in ruling against the opposing groups – Save Panoche Valley, the Santa Clara Audubon Society and the Sierra Club – over the project approved by the county board. Two of the organizations initially filed the suit in November 2010, and the Sierra Club later joined the effort.
The petitioners in the suit argued the county was “abusing its discretion” when it approved the solar project. The three groups argued the board’s approval violated the California Endangered Species Act, Fish and Game regulations, the Williamson Act and county planning laws. The suit described the final environmental impact report as inadequate and requested a new one.
The project originated in 2009 when a company named Solargen started developing land options and moving through the planning process. County supervisors approved the project in 2010, but in 2011 Solargen ran into financial problems. Eric Cherniss and John Pimentel formed PV2 Energy, LLC to buy the assets from Solargen. In March 2012, Duke Energy Renewables, part of the largest electric utility company in the United States, formed a joint venture with PV2 Energy.
