NIMBY: Intersect Power’s Massive Solar Project Faces Local Opposition in North Livermore
Posted on 07/30/2021
NIMBY (Not in my backyard). The 410-acre Aramis Renewable Energy Project is a large-scale solar energy and battery storage facility project based in North Livermore, at the edge of the San Francisco Bay Area. The project is being developed by Beaverton, Oregon-based Intersect Power, LLC. The project was unanimously approved by Alameda County in March 2021. Local organizations of ranchers and farmers are suing Alameda County about the project. Save North Livermore Valley filed a lawsuit against Alameda County. The group, along with Friends of Open Space and Vineyards and the Ohlone Audubon Society, served Alameda County with a petition for writ of mandate. The development site is currently cultivated with dryland crops or for grazing.
“Twenty-one years ago, 63,000 Alameda County residents placed Measure D on the ballot to safeguard and preserve the agricultural land and open space of East Alameda County, including North Livermore Valley. The voters overwhelmingly supported Measure D, despite an effort by the supervisors to defeat the measure. It constitutes the greatest environmental achievement in our county’s history,” said Chris O’Brien, chairperson of the Save North Livermore Valley steering committee, in a statement back in April 2021.
In January 26, 2021, Intersect Power secured US$ 127 million in equity funding from Climate Adaptive Infrastructure, LLC (“CAI”) and Trilantic North America to accelerate the company’s transition to a scalable provider of electric power for utilities and large end-users. Intersect Power also got a US$ 482 million debt facility with Generate Capital and CarVal Investors.
