A photo taken from the back of Jacques Peasha’s home, he said, showing glare from solar panels. Photo courtesy of Jacques Peasha  

HERALD, CA (MPG) – A meeting has been delayed until January that might influence whether a solar project is built here, according to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.

SMUD informed The Galt Herald the meeting originally set for November about the utility district’s integrated resource plan has been delayed until Jan. 28.

“The technical work to develop the IRP scenarios is still underway, including analysis of costs and other planning factors,” SMUD spokesperson Gamaliel Ortiz said by email. “We wanted to wait until that information is further along so we can provide the community with the most useful and current information.”

The IRP is a regionwide evaluation of “future energy needs and resource options to help provide reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity over time,” Ortiz said.

SMUD was planning to build a solar project in the Herald area. The Twin Cities Solar and Battery Energy Storage System Project was planned for 1,697 acres east and west of the decommissioned Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station. Since the utility district revealed its plans, it has received opposition from residents of the Herald area.

“Everyone says they’re (SMUD) going to do it,” said Jacques Peasha, who would lose a view from his home of grape vines if that project were built. “They’re just pushing it down the road.”  

SMUD is going to do what it wants with no concern for the community, he said.

Already SMUD has 500,000 solar panels in the area, said Leanne Carillo, a longtime resident, and the Twin Cities project would have delivered 850,000 more.

A meeting in June in Herald attracted about 50 people, and at least some were opposed to the project.

Concerns residents have raised about that project, besides views, include heat, property values, the impact on insurance premiums and how a fire at the project site would be extinguished.

James Hendricks, chief of the Herald Fire Protection District, which serves as the community’s fire department, declined to comment.

SMUD – at the January meeting – will share information about the IRP and options for decarbonization and their costs.

“No decisions about specific projects will be made at that time,” Ortiz said.

Solar projects have been part of SMUD’s effort to provide energy that is carbon-free.

SMUD will make no decisions about specific projects until the IRP is approved by the utility district’s board in April and filed with the California Energy Commission, Ortiz said.

“The Twin Cities project is not moving forward at this time,” he said. “If a future project is identified in the Herald area, it would go through its own public process.”

Any project in Herald will look different than the Twin Cities project, he said.

Up to 70 people can attend the meeting in person, according to a message to Herald residents from SMUD and shared with The Galt Herald. Others can attend virtually, the message says.

That is disturbing to Peasha. He said Champagne Ranch agreed previously to host a meeting and it can accommodate 400 people.

“Why 70 people,” he asked.