Aerial view of the Edmonston pumping station
Image: Tedder, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The California Department of Water Resources and developer Calpine have brought the 105 MW Pastoria Solar Project online in Arvin, marking the largest renewable energy procurement in the history of the State Water Project.
Located in Kern County at the foot of the Tehachapi Mountains, the facility uses approximately 226,000 solar panels equipped with tracking technology to follow the sun’s path.
The project aims to power the Edmonston Pumping Plant, charged with the energy-intensive process of lifting water nearly 2,000 feet (610 meters) above the mountain range to supply Southern California. The facility houses 14 massive centrifugal pumps, each rated at 80,000 horsepower. Each individual motor pump unit is approximately 20 meters high and weighs 420 tonnes. When all 14 units are running, the plant consumes up to 840 MW of electricity, making it the largest consumer of electricity in the state of California.
By securing a dedicated renewable source, government officials aim to insulate the cost of supplying water from the volatile broader energy market, which is experiencing increasing price pressure due to the rapid expansion of AI data centers.
The project is a key part of the department’s legally mandated transition to carbon neutrality by 2035. The site will operate as a multi-resource energy campus, integrating the new solar capacity with an existing 750 MW natural gas facility and a soon-to-be 80 MW battery storage system known as the Pastoria Power Bank.
Labor representatives from the California State Building and Construction Trades Council noted that the project was completed with the help of union labor, further linking the state’s climate goals to local economic development.
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