IMPERIAL COUNTYRENEWABLE ENERGY FACT SHEETMARCH 2017
Imperial County has seen significant interest in renewable
energy development and in September 2015 it completed
an amendment to its General Plan to support projects
that use geothermal, solar, wind, biofuels and biomass
resources. Its Revised Renewable Energy Resources Ordi-
nance is used to implement a Renewable Energy Overlay
Zone in the Renewable Energy and Transmission Element
of the county General Plan. The element is integrated with
regulations of other government agencies that regulate
renewable energy development.
POLICIES AND OVERSIGHT The Imperial County Planning and Development Services
Department oversees services including long-range
planning and updated two elements of its General Plan
for renewable energy and conservation. The Geothermal/
Alternative Energy and Transmission Element provides a
framework for the review and approval of county renew-
able energy projects. The Conservation and Open Space
Element addresses the balanced use, management,
and maintenance of environmental resources, including
biological and cultural resources, and open space and
recreation. These plan Elements help the county:
» Examine resources that may be impacted by future
renewable energy development
» Identify areas suitable for development
» Review areas around the Salton Sea that are eligible
for renewable energy and/or habitat conservation
» Review proposed transmission corridors and impacts
» Develop and identify potential sites for endangered
and threatened species
» Prepare applicable environmental documents
RENEWABLE PROJECTS AND GENERATING CAPACITYThe Energy Commission’s December 2016 Renewable En-
ergy Tracking Progress report shows that Imperial County
(incorporated and unincorporated areas) had 45 whole-
sale renewable energy projects on-line with a capacity
of 2,254 MW. In addition, there were 6 MW of distributed
generation systems, like rooftop solar, installed at homes
and buildings in the county. Also, there are 15 solar PV
projects with a combined capacity of 1,116 MW and 3
geothermal projects with a combined capacity of 212
MW with environmental permits in the county that could
become operational in the future.
EFFORTS TIED TO THE DESERT RENEWABLE ENERGY CONSERVATION PLAN (DRECP) Imperial County is one of seven counties that are working
with state and federal agencies on the development of
the DRECP, a major component of California’s renewable
energy planning efforts. The DRECP is a landscape-scale,
multi-agency planning effort for 22.5 million acres in
California’s desert. It will provide for the conservation
of desert ecosystems while facilitating the appropriate
development of renewable energy projects.
Imperial County was part of the Stakeholder
Committee that informed the plan’s development, and
it submitted comments on the draft DRECP released in
September 2014.
Edmund G. Brown Jr.Governor
Robert B. WeisenmillerChair
CommissionersKaren DouglasDavid HochschildAndrew McAllisterJanea A. Scott
CALIFORNIAENERGY COMMISSION
CEC-700-2015-002-FS
It was one of five counties—along with Inyo, Los Angeles,
Riverside and San Bernardino—in the DRECP area that
applied for and received a Renewable Energy Conserva-
tion Planning Grant (RECPG) from the Energy Commission.
Under MOUs signed with the state, these five counties
formed cooperative relationships to effectively plan for
and promote renewable energy development in a way
that advances the counties’ and state’s renewable energy
policies and initiatives.
Imperial County received two grants totaling $1.1
million to update elements of its General Plan. The first
grant, for $700,000, supported developing the Geother-
mal/Alternative Energy and Transmission Element update
and prepared a Programmatic Environmental Impact Re-
port (PEIR). (Forecasts from the draft DRECP were used to
develop projections for this update.) This update and the
final EIR were approved by the county in September 2015.
The second grant for $400,000 was used to update the
Conservation and Open Space Element, which the county
approved in March 2016.
More information about renewable energy projects
in Imperial County can be found on the county’s Planning
and Development Services Department web pages.
On-Line Renewable Energy Projects In Imperial County (as of October 31, 2016)*
* The information provided in this table is based on data from the
Quarterly Fuel and Energy Report (QFER), California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC) RPS Project Status Table, Energy Commission S2/
S5 Forms, CPUC “Currently Interconnected Data Set” (March 2016),
SB1 Solar Program Status Reports, and Imperial Irrigation District Net
Energy Metering Program Webpage
Utility-Scale Capacity (>20 MW)
Type
Geothermal 63014
1
1
10
33
265 - -
26 2,010 MW 19 244 MW 6 MW
7 60
1,082
6
6 96
88
Small Hydro
Solar PV
Wind
Total
Total MW
No. of Projects
No. of Projects
Total MW Total MW
Distributed-Scale Capacity
(1-20 MW)
Behind-the-Meter Capacity
(MW)