FILE-KBAK/KBFX photo
A new federal grant for Kern County is helping bring in more renewable energy.
Officials said plans are in the works to bring a clean energy business park to the area.
Officials are hoping that, with the help of the United States Department of Energy, they can come up with a plan of action that will shift kern county from relying less on fossil fuels to clean energy.
Kern County is working to become a leader in clean energy and offset its carbon emission.
“We’re not waiting for the future were actively inventing it and pursuing the future,” said Supervisor Phillip Peters.
Thanks to a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy experts will help them build clean energy and carbon-management business park.
This proposal could capture and store carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas.
Lorelei Oviatt Director of Planning and Natural Resources says the project comes as the county struggles to deal with the severe drought.
“So, the idea behind this is the carbon capture area that we are already working on with our oil companies. But what kind of C02 are you going to put into the ground those are the clean energy technologies that we need to understand how much water they use, what kind of what do they use, what kinds of jobs do they produce,” said Lorelei Oviatt Director of Planning and Natural Resources.
It would be on land that is already cultivated but has been left alone or disturbed by oil fields.
Oviatt said they’re looking for open farmland where they can set up solar and wind power.
“So those lands next to the oil field is the place where we would like to have property owners consider putting this Business Park and then we are going to need thirty thousand acres of solar or more to power it,” said Oviatt.
Officials say the project could bring more than four thousand jobs to Kern County are hoping to break ground on the clean energy business park by 2024.
“So, we expect this to be an eighteen-month process with all of our stakeholders looking at the different types of carbon management, and we need to figure out all that,” said Oviatt.
Officials say the project could bring more than four thousand jobs to Kern County are hoping to break ground on the clean energy business park by 2024.
Original article link: https://bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/carbon-management-business-park-coming-to-kern-thanks-to-federal-energy-grant?fbclid=IwAR2IDr2ON0cM8JdiAoI28deY2AZulCY5rhljOT3PG79p1uFv-qKEmLduOLk
