Santa Barbara County close to allowing thousands of acres of solar energy projects

The largest solar panel array in Santa Barbara County spans a dusty patch of the rural Cuyama Valley for a reason. The remote setting is the one place in the county where the project’s broad footprint and scale—327 acres of panel after panel—is legally allowed. That’s likely to change, however, as elected officials consider expanding solar energy production. New standards would pave the way for commercial installations countywide on a range of non-residential properties.“So much work has gone into this,” said county Supervisor Laura Capps, who represents the Second District. “We just have a little bit longer.” The 40-megawatt Cuyama Solar Project spans 327 acres in the northeast corner of Santa Barbara County. (Video via Google Earth, Airbus, Landsat / Copernicus, Excel Imaging US) A handful of key decisions remain. One—whether to cap the largest projects at 10,000 cumulative acres—focuses on how visible and intrusive the projects would be. Another factor—how to regula