Solar Energy and Conservation in the San Joaquin Valley

Jul 6, 2015
Created by Dustin Pearce
Solar Energy and Conservation in the San Joaquin Valley

About

The Solar Energy and Conservation in the San Joaquin Valley project (Wildlight) was undertaken to identify appropriate areas for utility scale photovoltaic solar development within the San Joaquin Valley (SJV). This project was accomplished by a group of master's students at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management (University of California, Santa Barbara) as partial completion of their masters degrees. The Wildlight project was done in partnership with Defenders of Wildlife acting as the client for the project.

Beyond finding areas that are appropriate for utility scale solar development, a secondary goal of the analysis was to identify high value conservation lands within the SJV  that can be targeted for protection and/or serve as mitigation areas for utility scale solar developments. Data representing the major stakeholder groups in the region(Conservation, Agriculture, Solar Developers) are used to generate a spatial model identifying and highlighting the most compatible areas for utility scale solar development.

The WildLight Team worked with stakeholder groups, government agencies, and university researchers to generate and collect data as inputs to the Environmental Evaluation Modeling System, a spatial model developed by the Conservation Biology Institute. This model combines large spatial datasets to create an innovative and powerful decision support framework. This model allows for the integration and comparison of widely varying data types, producing a framework and outputs that are easily interpreted. Additionally, the model utilizes the best available data and is designed to be highly adaptable and capable of incorporating new data as it becomes available.

The data and outputs shown in this gallery represent the most up to date model run as of July 2015 (version 33). All stakeholders, researchers, and land managers within this region are encouraged to look at the information presented in this gallery. Comments on data inputs, model structure, and the interpretation of the data are all welcomed. For more information on the Wildlight project or on the current status of the model and inputs please contact Dustin Pearce. 
Tags
climate change adaptation, agriculture, conservation, agricultural priority, species modeling, solar energy development, wildlife conservation and management

This gallery is visible to everyone

Gallery contains
4 Folders
34 Datasets
Usage
Bookmarked by 3 Members , 1 Group
Pearce, Dustin, Young, Sam, Wesolowski, Graham, Cowan, Jane, Gwin, Andrew. 2015. San Joaquin Valley Landscape-Scale Planning for Solar Energy and Conservation. Unpublished Master's Thesis. Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara.


About the Gallery Author

Dustin Pearce
GIS Analyst with Conservation Biology Institute

Dustin Pearce is GIS Analyst with the Conservation Biology Institute. He has focused geospatial and stakeholder engagement experience in the San Joaquin Valley of California on agricultural lands, natural lands, and renewable energy development. His experience and background allows him to work with...