California farmers sell land for solar plant

Farmers in the San Joaquin Valley’s Westlands Water District are selling 12,000 acres for the creation of Westlands Solar Park. The park, when completed, will be a 5,000-megawatt photovoltaic power complex. Over the past few decades the land has had an abundant amount of salt build-up, not ideal for growing crops.

“Last year, we had over 250,000 acres in the district that didn’t get farmed,” explains Sarah Woolf, a Westlands spokeswoman. “Then you have drainage issues coupled with the long-term reliability of the water supply.” So instead of spending millions to fix the problem, farmers have opted to sell the land to Westside Holdings. Not only will this change generate a lot of energy for the Valley, but it will also help the neighbors and water resources. By giving up water normally allocated to crops, the rest of the Valley will have access to this resource at a much more affordable rate.

In other parts of California, there have been protests against replacing farm land with solar farms, but because of the bad soil condition and re-routing of water, it appears the San Joaquin Valley residents will be supportive.

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