Blue Lake Rancheria Nested Community Microgrids
Summary
SCH Number
2025060919
Public Agency
California Energy Commission
Document Title
Blue Lake Rancheria Nested Community Microgrids
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
6/19/2025
Document Description
The proposed project involves the expansion and reconfiguration of the existing renewable energy microgrid at the Blue Lake Rancheria, including the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, battery energy storage systems (BESS), control systems, and limited trenching and electrical infrastructure upgrades. All work will occur entirely on lands owned and governed by the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe, a federally recognized sovereign Tribal government. The proposed project will develop and prove nested community microgrids that are used to coordinate operations of distributed energy resources across a distribution circuit by integrating new hardware and control systems into the existing microgrid system developed in a previous California Energy Commission funded project in 2015. The proposed project will demonstrate significant advancements in the state-of-the-art in grid modernization by deploying an automated, self-balancing, deeply decarbonized and resilient electrical distribution circuit serving multiple facilities with the ability to island strategic sections of a nested system.
These advances will be demonstrated and documented, with a focus on facilitating replication for front-of-the-meter community microgrids throughout the state. These advances are expected to lead to carbon emissions reductions, improved reliability and resilience, increased energy security, enhanced safety, increased hosting capacity on distribution circuits, and more cost-effective approaches to wildfire mitigation, especially for disadvantaged, remote, and rural communities, including Tribal nations. Microgrids that are built using technology demonstrated under the proposed project will enable significant improvements in service on rural distribution circuits where electrical service is unreliable. This project will support lower cost, more reliable, and cleaner electricity for a historically disadvantaged Tribal community, along with laying the technical groundwork for other projects.
Contact Information
Name
Sean Anayah
Agency Name
California Energy Commission
Job Title
Commission Agreement Manager - EGSSI
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Name
David Franklin
Agency Name
Cal Poly Humboldt Sponsored Programs Foundation
Job Title
Contract Manager
Contact Types
Project Applicant
Phone
Location
Coordinates
Cities
Blue Lake
Counties
Humboldt
Regions
Northern California
Cross Streets
Aiyekwee Loop
Zip
95525
State Highways
299
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Other
Type, Section or Code
Common Sense Exemption. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, §15061(b)(3))
Reasons for Exemption
This project is covered by the Common Sense Exemption under 14 CCR 15061 (b) (3) that CEQA applies only to projects which have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA.
The proposed project involves the expansion and reconfiguration of the existing renewable energy microgrid at the Blue Lake Rancheria, including the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, battery energy storage systems (BESS), control systems, and limited trenching and electrical infrastructure upgrades. All work will occur entirely on lands owned and governed by the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe, a federally recognized sovereign Tribal government. The proposed project will develop and prove nested community microgrids that are used to coordinate operations of distributed energy resources across a distribution circuit by integrating new hardware and control systems into the existing microgrid system developed in a previous California Energy Commission funded project in 2015. The proposed project will demonstrate significant advancements in the state-of-the-art in grid modernization by deploying an automated, self-balancing, deeply decarbonized and resilient electrical distribution circuit serving multiple facilities with the ability to island strategic sections of a nested system.
All project activities will occur on the Blue Lake Rancheria reservation. Project activities do not include burning or any other activity that may have an impact to land off of the Blue Lake Rancheria. In order for the CEC to comply with CEQA, the CEC must evaluate any impacts to land within the jurisdiction of the State of California, which is therefore limited to potential impacts of the project off of the Blue Lake Rancheria.
This project is exempt under the CEQA exemption because the proposed project will not:
• construct on or alter any land subject to jurisdiction of the State of California;
• impact local air quality;
• use groundwater resources or otherwise impact any water resources that might be subject to jurisdiction of the State of California
• build additional transportation infrastructure;
• increase vehicle miles traveled;
• increase ambient noise beyond the existing activities; or
• degrade the visual character or quality of views, including those of scenic resources or objects of aesthetic significance on land subject to the jurisdiction of the State of California.
Because the proposed project does not provide for any physical changes outside of the Blue Lake Rancheria reservation, it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the proposed project may have a significant effect on the environment within the jurisdiction of the State of California. Based on all these factors, the proposed project meets the CEQA exemption.
The project will not impact an environmental resource of hazardous or critical concern where designated, precisely mapped, and officially adopted pursuant to law by federal, state, or local agencies; does not involve any cumulative impacts of successive projects of the same type in the same place that might be considered significant; does not involve unusual circumstances that might have a significant effect on the environment; will not result in damage to scenic resources within a highway officially designated as a state scenic highway; the project site is not included on any list compiled pursuant to Government Code section 65962.5; and the project will not cause a substantial adverse change in the significance of a historical resource. Therefore, none of the exceptions to categorical exemptions listed in CEQA Guidelines section 15300.2 apply to this project and this project will not have a significant effect on the environment.
The activity is covered by the general rule that CEQA applies only to projects which have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA.
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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