California Governor, Gavin Newsome, recently visited the future site of the Proxima Solar Farm in Stanislaus County, where GTTSi consultant Phillip Hernandez works as Construction & Commissioning Manager.  This 1,600-acre site broke ground in August 2022 and is expected to be operational as early as December 2023. Once online it can generate up to 210 megawatts of clean, renewable energy and 177 megawatts of battery energy storage. This will power up to 60,000 homes in the surrounding region, as well as supporting some of Microsoft’s electrical needs, as well as municipal utilities in San Francisco, Sonoma, and Los Angeles. NextEra Energy expects the project to create 300 construction jobs and generate $35 million in local revenue.

The Proxima Solar project is more than solar panels and batteries, it represents a significant capital investment in California. It will create good-paying jobs and millions in additional revenue for the local community.

Governor Newsome chose this site as a backdrop to rollout his vision for the CEQA-reform law that will make it easier for California to build things. The CEQA-reform is a law that requires public agencies and decision-makers to evaluate the environmental impact of a proposed project. Then, they determine if the project will have significant impacts on environmental quality, disclose those impacts to the public, and mitigate them to the degree feasible. This can also be referred to as “look before you leap”.