AES anxious to move forward

(Imperial Valley Solar is not dead)…That was the message at Tuesday’s Supervisors meeting.

 Imperial Valley Solar was recently sold to AES Electric Utility. The project is a major solar field proposed for the west Imperial County, on Bureau Of Land Management land. The energy produced from the solar project was to be sold to San Diego Gas and Electric and transported to San Diego via the Sunrise PowerLink transmission line. The project has been bogged down by litigation filed by the Quechan Indian Tribe and others. Tessera, who owned the project, recently sold to AES. Mark Van Patton of Tessera told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday the project was not dead. Bob Hemple, CEO of AES, says his company was delighted to be in the Imperial Valley, and they planned to move forward with the project. He said AES was probably the largest electric utility nobody ever heard of. He said the company had $40 billion is assets, with investment projects across the United States and throughout the world. He said the plan is to meet with the stakeholders in Imperial Valley solar, including elected officials, tribal leaders, the BLM and others. He said the project would be redesigned to a more traditional project and permits would be amended. He said they plan to move quickly and as respectfully as possible.