More than a dozen people spoke at Tuesday’s San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors meeting on the nearly finished 100-megawatt Caballero Energy Storage project in Nipomo.
“I’m an adjacent owner as well. That is scary for all of us,” said Angelica Gutierrez of Nipomo.
Although the battery project is located on 20 acres outside the heart of Nipomo, people do live nearby.
“We have animals, we have crops, farmworkers, we have our dream homes there,” Gutierrez said.
About 1,000 feet from Highway 101 along Joshua Street, some locals say it’s too close for comfort.
“Plus, the 101 freeway would be shut down and you have to ask yourself how would the evacuation go,” said one Nipomo resident during public comment.
Many of the people who spoke asked supervisors to pause the project, but with it already approved, county counsel advised against that.
“I think it would create significant liability for the county. We’d be subject to litigation and, in my opinion, we would not suggest that,” said County Counsel Rita Neal.
San Luis Obispo County Fire Chief John Owens detailed the safety procedures many local fire departments would be doing on the project and the training they have received from the developer.
“Invited to that training were Santa Barbara County Fire, Santa Maria Fire, Five Cities Fire. This is not the only training we will be doing. We will always be doing training,” Owens said.
The project will take up six acres of the 20-acre property. The stored electricity will feed into the existing PG&E substation located nearby.
“My home is adjacent to the Caballero project, which is about 300 feet from my property line. To my surprise, the project with hazardous materials was built right in my backyard without a courtesy notice,” said Lorena Chavez of Nipomo.
Some people with property nearby also voiced concern about not being notified of the project in advance.
“The radius was 300 feet to notify the neighbors. We’re a rural acreage of 20 acres, so the only person that was notified was the landowner,” Gutierrez said.
That prompted Supervisor Jimmy Paulding to propose a change.
“I ask that we increase the radius for notices for future projects like this,” Paulding said.
California has a goal of 100% clean energy by 2045.
“Clean and renewable energy sources are needed for our energy resilience. This includes batteries,” said one San Luis Obispo resident.
Gutierrez believes safety should come first.
“We don’t have to be the leader in the county on all these renewable energies,” she said.
KSBY reached out to the Caballero Energy Project team but so far, has not received a response.
The battery storage facility is expected to be completed early this year.
