A pilot project to fill interchanges on U.S. 101 from south San Jose to north Gilroy with enough solar panels to power to supply 3,000 single-family homes has been delayed indefinitely due to insufficient financing.
The City of Morgan Hill received a grant in 2011 to help the project sponsor – Republic Cloverleaf – with planning and information gathering for the proposal to place up to 64,000 photovoltaic panels on Caltrans property located at seven intersections along U.S. 101. The project would have used property at the freeway’s interchanges at Masten Avenue, San Martin Avenue, Tennant Avenue, East Dunne Avenue, Coyote Creek Drive, Highway 85 and Branham Lane, according to City staff.
The 15 megawatts of electricity produced by these panels would have been sold to PG&E on a 20-year lease, according to Republic Cloverleaf’s proposal in 2010.
But according to a recent City staff report on the local use of California Sustainable Communities Planning grant funds from the Strategic Growth Council, the project is on hold indefinitely due to lack of financing.
Republic Cloverleaf, a private company, would have been responsible for acquiring all of the funding for the project.
“Republic continues to seek out financial commitments and may ultimately construct the project at a future date,” says the staff report written by Morgan Hill Program Administrator Anthony Eulo. “To date, however, the potential revenues available from the sale of electricity from the project have not been adequate to finance the project.”
Republic Cloverleaf could not be contacted, and the company’s website opens with only a message reading, “under construction.”
The solar highways project would have been the first of its kind in California, and was intended to demonstrate how clean electricity can be generated on the state’s thousands of miles of state-owned freeway interchanges. The project would have offset about 14,800 metric tons of carbon released into the atmosphere every year – equivalent to about 2.1 vehicle miles or about 76,000 trees, according to a Republic spokesman in 2010.
Republic would have taken over landscaping and litter maintenance on the Caltrans properties where the solar power system was proposed, and would have generated about 280 construction jobs, according to Republic’s proposal in 2010.
The City used its grant from the Strategic Growth Council to conduct public outreach, including community meetings and surveys. The outreach efforts generated little public participation and feedback, according to the City staff report.
