A SUNNY SCENARIO
Inyo County’s property tax picture is going to get quite a bit sunnier in the coming years, thanks to an expiring state property tax exemption and the planned construction of a large-scale solar energy project in the far southeast corner of the county.
The county is anticipating granting final approval later this year to the utility-scale Bonanza Peak Solar project, which will be built on 2,400 acres of vacant, open land in the Charleston View area of Death Valley, near the Nevada/California border. About 734,000 “fixed-tilt” solar panels will generate 500 megawatts of solar power on the site. Besides the panels, the development will include a substation, maintenance facilities, power lines and a battery storage facility.
County Assessor David Stottlemyre informed the Inyo County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 8 that for the first time in decades, the county will be able to place an assessment value and collect property tax on the solar development. Currently, California exempts the value of any size solar installation from being added to the taxable value of the property getting the solar panels. That includes home solar installations and huge, utility-scale soar projects. The voter-approved tax break for solar went into effect in 1980.
That exemption is expiring on Jan. 1, 2027, Stottlemyre said, so the county will be able to tally up the value of the entire solar project and collect property taxes based on that value.
There is no threat of the project sneaking under the wire and keeping the tax exemption if the project is approved in 2026, said Stacey Simon, who is working for the county part-time on the Bonanza Peak application. She said county approvals do not give the project the exemption. For the state, finalizing a solar project for tax purposes means it has to be built and be fully operational and delivering electricity to the grid.
After county approvals, it will take 16-18 months to build Bonanza Peak, Simon said. Coming to an agreement on the value of the land, improvements and then the value of the electricity generated will be a complex task, she added. The county has faced and overcome similar challenges in assessing the value of the Coso Geothermal project.
Bonanza Peak Solar is being developed by Bonanza Peak Solar, LLC, a subsidiary of 174 Power Global, a subsidiary of Hanwha Group, a large South Korean business conglomerate. The project is being managed in Inyo County through Energy Project Solutions, the company’s community outreach arm.
The county is using Development Agreements to finalize approvals for Bonanza Peak project. Using those agreements as opposed to the county’s regular land use and permitting approvals allows the county to have some “flexibility.” For example, the county can ask the developers for more than would be available as mitigation measures under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Simon said. The proponents will have to follow all CEQA guidelines, but “CEQA mitigation is fairly limited,” so the development agreements can “go beyond those requirements,” she said.
Impacts to the area’s roads and the Old Spanish Trail, could be mitigated under CEQA, as could other environmental impacts. But general government operations and expenses might fall out of the view of CEQA.
The Development Agreements could have the developer pay for those types of costs. For example, the company is looking at providing about $2 million the Southern Inyo Fire Protection District for a fire station in the area. Another $500,000 could also be offered to review the Charleston View Community plan and other community needs, she said. The project is located in the existing Charleston View Solar Energy Development Area, which is defined in the county General Plan.
The Development Agreements are still being drafted, and will eventually be presented for approval to the county Planning Commission and then the Supervisors.
