Limitations put on BrightSource’s Hidden Hills solar project by one agency may have resulted in another agency, the California Energy Commission, rejecting a permit to build the facility in Inyo County. “The information [lacked data on] air quality, biological resources, cultural resources, efficiency, land use, traffic & transportation, transmission system design, visual resources, and water” Energy Commission project manager Mike Monasmith said. A BrightSource representative said the project is bouncing between agency requirements. He partially blamed the application’s incompleteness on an inability to conduct a thorough area reconnaissance. “Surveys were conducted; they were conducted on foot, and that was at the direction of the Department of Fish & Game, which said essentially ‘you can’t use a helicopter to do those surveys at this point because of the landing season of the bighorn sheep,’” said Clay Jensen, senior director of project development for the applicant, a subsidiary of BrightSource Energy, Sept. 7. “We’ve got a little bit of a loggerheads between a couple of resource agencies giving us directions on protocols.” Jensen added the company would revise its application and resubmit it. The proposed project, dubbed the Hidden Hills Solar Electric Generating System, would sit on about 3,200 acres, or 4.7 square miles, of private land in Inyo County, about 45 miles west of Las Vegas. As currently designed, the project would consist of two solar fields generating 250 MW each. The arrays would use tracking system-guided mirrors to focus the sun’s rays on a steam generator tower near the center of each field. The commission also approved a total of $3.6 million in energy improvement low-interest loans. Of the three loans, the largest amount, $2 million, goes to the California Department of Corrections for a project to replace inefficient lighting at a state prison and substance abuse treatment facility in Corcoran. The upgrades are expected to reduce energy costs by $330,500/year and save about 3.6 million kWh annually, according to the CEC, plus reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1,249 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Additionally, the commission approved the adoption of the third in its annual series of investment plans for its Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program, which helps develop new technologies through an annual program budget of $100 million. Under the new plan, the vast majority of the funding, $23 million, is allocated to developing and demonstrating new types of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. The second-largest chunk, $13 million is to fund gasoline substitutes. Also, $10 million is set aside for development of manufacturing facilities and equipment. All votes were 4-0. The commission’s fifth seat is still vacant. Anthony Eggert, who was appointed to the post in May by Gov. Jerry Brown, still hasn’t been confirmed by the state Senate.