Difference between revisions of "Carrizo Plain"

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added more information about the history of the valley and cleaned up Solar farms section
(added more information about the history of the valley and cleaned up Solar farms section)
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The creek has been carefully studied by geologists to find a correlation between the offset and historical events, such as earthquakes, that have occurred along the San Andreas Fault. Although Wallace Creek is not the only creek that has been offset by the San Andreas Fault, it is the most spectacular.
The creek has been carefully studied by geologists to find a correlation between the offset and historical events, such as earthquakes, that have occurred along the San Andreas Fault. Although Wallace Creek is not the only creek that has been offset by the San Andreas Fault, it is the most spectacular.
==History==
California Valley is believed to have been visited by Native Americans passing through to the sacred site at Painted Rock, but no permanent Indian settlement existed due to a lack of easily accessible water. During the time California was controlled by Spain as the Viceroyalty of New Spain, California Valley was a Spanish land grant, the El Chicote Ranch, that was used for seasonal cattle raising. In 1848, with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the entire state was ceded to the United States of America.
During the early days of pioneer settlement in the western states, outlaws used California Valley as a remote hiding area where they could avoid the law. This tradition continued until at least the 1930s.
===Land development scheme===
In 1960, the original Spanish land grant was parceled out into over 7,200 2.5 acre (10,000 m2) sections by optimistic real estate developers. According to their own advertising fliers, these developers believed that the California State Water Project might bring water to the area. In 1963, an advertisement tried to attract land investors to purchase: “2½ full acres, fertile soil, not desert, as little as $20 down and only $20 per month, $1,795 (equivalent to $15,246 in 2020) full price.” As of 2020, the assessed value of most of these tracts is only around $3,000 each, meaning investors would have been better off putting their investment into a savings account.
After a more northerly route (closer to Highway 41/46) for the State Water Project was selected, many buyers lost heart, many properties were abandoned and the developers eventually went bankrupt. Several ranches and other developments built dirt or gravel airstrips and at least one paved runway was built and was at one time listed on aeronautical charts.
A few hundred people have built homes in this isolated area since, but the mass growth once promised never materialized. A Community Services District (CSD) was formed to deliver services to these residents, which includes trash collection, improvement of roads and the upkeep of a Community Center with a small public library.
Between 1960 and 2000, refuse and a number of old cars were dumped in the California Valley area, much of it by local residents, posing serious environmental issues. In 2006, a combined effort by the California Highway Patrol, California Department of Motor Vehicles, San Luis Obispo County Code Enforcement, and local businesses worked together to remove abandoned vehicles and accumulated trash.
In 2011, San Luis Obispo County attempted to sell off 415 2.5 acre lots for $1.9 million, but the county was unsuccessful.


==Animal life==
==Animal life==
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* San Joaquin antelope squirrel – a light tan squirrel with a white belly and a white stripe down its back and sides. Most of its habitat is used for agriculture, making the Carrizo Plain the habitat for most of the remaining population.
* San Joaquin antelope squirrel – a light tan squirrel with a white belly and a white stripe down its back and sides. Most of its habitat is used for agriculture, making the Carrizo Plain the habitat for most of the remaining population.


==Solar power==
==Solar farms==
The remote Carrizo Plain's status as one of the sunniest places in the state was exploited by the solar power industry from 1983 to 1994. This was by far the largest photovoltaic array in the world, with 100,000 of the 1-by-4-foot (0.3 by 1.2 m) photovoltaic arrays producing 5.2 megawatts at its peak. The plant was originally constructed by the Atlantic Richfield oil company (ARCO) in 1983. During the 1979 energy crisis ARCO became a solar energy pioneer, manufacturing the photovoltaic arrays themselves. ARCO first built a 1 megawatt pilot operation, the Lugo plant in Hesperia, California, which is also now closed. The Carrizo Solar Corporation, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, bought the two facilities from ARCO in 1990, but the price of oil never rose as was predicted, so the solar plant never became competitive with fossil fuel-based energy production. Carrizo Solar sold its electricity to the local utility for between three and four cents a kilowatt-hour, while a minimum price of eight to ten cents a kilowatt-hour would have been necessary in order for Carrizo to make a profit. Another photovoltaic facility was planned for the site by the Chatsworth Utility Power Group; with an output of 100 megawatts, it would have been many times larger than the existing facility, but the facility never got off the drawing board. The Carrizo Solar Company dismantled its 177-acre (0.7 km2) facility in the late 1990s, and the used solar panels are still being resold throughout the world.
[[File:CA-Solar Ranch.jpg|350px|thumb| Solar Panels at California Valley Solar Ranch]]
 
The remote Carrizo Plain's status as one of the sunniest places in the state was exploited by the solar power industry from 1983 to 1994. This was the largest photovoltaic array in the world, with 100,000 of the 1-by-4-foot photovoltaic arrays producing 5.2 megawatts at its peak. The plant was originally constructed by the Atlantic Richfield oil company (ARCO) in 1983. The Carrizo Solar Corporation bought the facilities from ARCO in 1990, but the solar plant never became competitive with fossil fuel-based energy production. The Carrizo Solar Company dismantled its 177-acre (0.7 km2) facility in the late 1990s.
In October 2007, the Palo Alto company Ausra, doing business as Carrizo Energy, filed an application for a 177 MW (peak) Carrizo Energy Solar Farm (CESF) on 640 acres (2.6 km2) adjacent to the previous ARCO site. Instead of photovoltaic cells (as used by ARCO), however, Ausra will use Fresnel reflectors that concentrate solar energy onto pipes in a receiver elevated above the ground. The concentrated solar energy boils water within a row of specially coated stainless steel pipes in an insulated cavity to produce saturated steam. The steam produced in the receivers is collected in a series of pipes, routed to steam drums, and then to the two turbine generators. Steam used by the steam turbines is condensed into liquid water and then returned to the solar field. Electricity from the steam generators will be used in San Luis Obispo county. Local opposition to some solar farm proposals centers on concerns about height above grade, noise and heat plume.


The solar field would have operated daily from sunrise to sunset. Typical operating hours for the CESF would have been approximately 13 hours per day, or an average of 4,765 hours per year. In November 2009, the project was canceled.
In October 2007, the Palo Alto company Ausra filed an application for a 177 MW Carrizo Energy Solar Farm (CESF) on 640 acres adjacent to the previous ARCO site. The solar field would have operated daily from sunrise to sunset. Typical operating hours for the CESF would have been approximately 13 hours per day, or an average of 4,765 hours per year. In November 2009, the project was canceled.


On August 14, 2008, Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced agreements to buy the power from two proposed photovoltaic plants in the Carrizo Plain, Topaz Solar Farm and High Plains Ranch, with a combined peak power of 800 MW. If built, these will be the largest photovoltaic plants in the world.
On 14 August 2008, Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced agreements to buy the power from two proposed photovoltaic plants in the Carrizo Plain: Topaz Solar Farm and High Plains Ranch, with a combined peak power of 800 MW. As of November 2014 Topaz Solar Farm is operational, with peak power of 550 MW.


As of November 2014 Topaz Solar Farm is operational, with peak power of 550 MW.
In October 2013, the California Valley Solar Ranch became operational. It is a 250 megawatt photovoltaic power plant on the Carrizo Plain, northeast of California Valley. The project was constructed on 1,966 acres of a 4,365-acre site of former grazing land. It utilizes high-efficiency, crystalline PV panels designed and manufactured by SunPower. The project includes up to 88,000 SunPower solar tracking devices to hold PV panels that track the sun across the sky.


==External links==
==External links==
[https://www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/california/carrizo-plain-national-monument BLM website for the Carrizo Plain]
[https://www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/california/carrizo-plain-national-monument BLM website for the Carrizo Plain]
[https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/community/columns-blogs_/over-the-hill/article39160608.html Article about original land scheme]


[[Category:Geography of Calsahara]]
[[Category:Geography of Calsahara]]
[[Category:Calsahara]]
[[Category:Calsahara]]

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