Lucerne Valley and San Bernardino County

The Calcite Substation (Calcite) is a 220 kilovolt (kV) substation planned to connect 99MT 8ME/Avantus (Avantus) Siena Solar Farm 200-megawatt (MW) photo voltaic solar and Sienna Solar 2 55 MW Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) projects. Calcite Substation will be in the unincorporated community of Lucerne Valley, San Bernardino County.

In January 2018, the planning process for the proposed Calcite Substation was initiated to interconnect Avantus’ Sienna Solar projects to the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) controlled electric grid following the execution of a Large Generator Interconnection Agreement (LGIA) among Avantus, SCE and CAISO. The County of San Bernardino is the lead agency for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Review for the Avantus Sienna Solar projects. While the Calcite Substation is under the jurisdiction of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), San Bernardino County will provide CEQA review of SCE work.

In 2018, Avantus submitted their application to the County of San Bernardino for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP). Avantus included the SCE Calcite Substation Project description in its Initial Study submitted to the County. The CPUC is aware of SCE & Avantus’ joint efforts. After certification of the environmental review by San Bernardino County, SCE will request a permit to construct the Calcite Substation from the CPUC.

The proposed Calcite Substation is on the same site formerly called the proposed Jasper Substation which had been planned in 2010 to interconnect a now inactive project by RES America for the Granite Mountain Wind Project. Work stopped on the Jasper Substation when the Granite Mountain project was terminated in 2013.

The County of San Bernardino upheld the County Planning Commission, approving the Sienna Solar and BESS project’s CUP and certifying the Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The certified EIR also included and evaluated SCE’s Calcite Substation.

• 2018-2023: Planning, environmental field studies & Avantus CUP application
• 2023-2025: Avantus Projects CUP process with the County of San Bernardino
• 2025: County’s Final Decisions on Avantus permits, environmental and licensing.
• 2026-2027: CPUC’s final decision on SCE’s Calcite Substation permitting process
• 2027-2028: Calcite Substation Construction
• 2028: Calcite Substation Operational

• Project Map