Behind Jacques and Kathy Peasha lies green vineyards that could become a sea of solar panels if the Sacramento Municipal Utility District builds the Twin Cities Solar and Battery Energy Storage System Project. Photo by Keith Burbank

HERALD, CA (MPG) - The Sacramento Municipal Utility District is planning to hold a meeting here in November to help determine whether SMUD needs a controversial solar project.

“We’re no project. Bottom line,” said Jacques Peasha, a Herald resident who is familiar with the project and affected by existing SMUD solar panels.

Peasha at times suffers from “intense glare” from the panels near his home on Kirkwood Road.

Residents are concerned, too, about the loss of property values and views if the Twin Cities Solar and Battery Energy Storage System Project is built.

The project site – east of Herald – is 1,697 acres north and west of the decommissioned Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station, according to SMUD.

The northern part is about 982 acres, and the western section is about 715 acres, SMUD records show.  

A picture capturing the intense glare from solar panels Jacques Peasha says he experiences as seen from the pool next to his home. Photo courtesy of Jacques Peasha

Residents are concerned as well about heat, the impact on insurance premiums and how a fire at the project site would be extinguished. Herald has a volunteer fire department that might be unable to handle a fire, depending on its size. The fire station, too, sometimes floods during the rainy season.

“We're not moving forward with the project at this time and won't be proposing any new utility-scale solar projects until we complete our comprehensive Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) process in early 2027,” SMUD spokesperson Gamaliel Ortiz, said by email Oct. 21.

The planned November meeting in Herald is part of the IRP process, which is “SMUD's long-range planning process to evaluate the region's future energy needs and help guide decisions about what resources may be needed to provide reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity over time,” Ortiz added in a subsequent email.

The Twin Cities Solar and Battery Energy Storage System Project would add 850,000 solar panels to an area that has 500,000, said Leanne Carillo, an area resident for about 30 years.

Solar panels for the Twin Cities project would be in front of Carillo’s home.   

SMUD held a meeting in Herald in June that drew 50 to 60 people from a population of 1,160, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. After that meeting, SMUD put the project on hold pending the outcome of the IRP process.

“The IRP process will be public, and meetings will be open to the public,” Ortiz said.

The SMUD board is expected to adopt a final IRP in April, according to SMUD’s webpage dedicated to the process.

Of the project, “It’s a big deal to us,” Carillo said. “We don’t want it.”