AES Corporation today announced it has canceled a proposed Jewelflower Battery Energy Storage System on a 128-acre site in the Coyote Valley near Morgan Hill.<\/p>\n
The project would have placed hundreds of containerized lithium\u2011ion battery units across roughly 40 acres of prime farmland in North Coyote Valley.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis decision followed a review of several factors, including project economics, infrastructure requirements, market conditions, community considerations, and long-term investment priorities,\u201d a spokesman for the Virginia corporation told San Jose Inside. \u201cThe project was still under evaluation, and no permit application had been submitted.\u201d<\/p>\n
The planned 350 MegaWatt lithium-ion project had faced strong pushback from local groups over land use in Coyote Valley, which has been in the spotlight as a centerpiece for the open space preservation movement in the South Bay.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the past several months, we have held valuable conversations with landowners, local officials and organizations, and other community stakeholders,\u201d AES said in a statement on its website. \u201cWe are grateful to everyone who took the time to learn about the project and share their perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n
AES last year dropped plans for a 320-400 MegaWatt battery storage facility in North San Diego County, also following community opposition, but has extensive operations elsewhere in California.<\/p>\n
AES already is operating solar and storage facilities on 7,500 acres in Kern County, Tulare County and north of San Bernardino. It has proposed a solar and storage project in Los Angeles County and a battery storage facility in Riverside County.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the Jewelflower project will not move forward, battery energy storage continues to be a critical part of AES’ development portfolio and strategy, and an important part of California’s energy future,\u201d the company said today. \u201cBy storing power and delivering it when it is most needed, energy storage will provide much needed resiliency and flexibility to the power grid. We remain committed to advancing projects throughout the state that provide the safe, reliable, and affordable power essential to strengthening local grid reliability and creating meaningful benefits for communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority Board of Directors voted unanimously in late May to oppose the proposed AES Jewelflower plant in Coyote Valley.<\/p>\n
Authority Board Chair, Kathy Sutherland warned at a May 28 public meeting that \u201cinstalling an industrial battery facility in the middle of this conserved landscape [would] undermine everything done by residents of Santa Clara Valley to protect Coyote Valley.\u201d The proposed site was in prime, actively farmed land.<\/p>\n
Voters and public agencies have invested more than $160 million to conserve wildlife movement, groundwater recharge, climate resilience, sustainable agriculture and public access in the Coyote Valley area just north of Morgan Hill.<\/p>\n
The site was within the Coyote Valley Conservation Program area.<\/p>\n
A previous battery\u2011storage project \u2013 known as the Hummingbird project \u2013 was successfully relocated from open space to a site directly behind the Open Space Authority\u2019s headquarters in San Jos\u00e9, an area already zoned for industrial use and far from sensitive wildlife habitat.<\/p>\n
The authority warned that the AES project would not be addressing a local need, as the stored energy would likely serve projects like data centers in other parts of the state, including southern California.<\/p>\n
The Authority\u2019s Board of Directors received letters from parents whose children attend the charter school located directly across from the proposed project site, and raised concerns about placing a large\u2011scale industrial battery installation so close to the school\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n
State elected officials, including Senator Dave Cortese and Assemblymembers Ash Kalra and Gail Pellerin also had expressed concerns through letters submitted to the California Energy Commission (CEC).<\/p>\n
A Change.org petition opposing the project gathered more than 2,200 signatures at the time of writing, and Charter School of Morgan Hill principal Susan Pfefferlen said she was alarmed by the facility\u2019s proximity to her campus.<\/p>\n
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