Analyzing surface water issues when evaluating a solar site for development can play a pivotal role in successfully entitling, permitting, and operating a project. The following outlines three key considerations.
Surface Water Analysis Requires Thorough Hydrology and Hydraulics Due Diligence
Hydrology and hydraulics surface water analysis should go beyond a simple Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) floodplain review. A thorough fatal flaw analysis should include the presence of jurisdictional boundaries, typical storm intensity and duration, upstream physical conditions that may contribute flow to the site, downstream physical conditions that could be impacted, soil characteristics for erosive potential, and regional water quality issues.
Local jurisdictional requirements should also be analyzed. Requirements vary significantly among cities, counties, and regional boards, and sometimes even within each jurisdiction. Understanding local issues you may encounter will help inform decisions during solar site evaluation and throughout the project’s life.
Understanding how Solar Technology Impacts Mitigation Costs
Knowing how your solar technology will affect a site can help you mold the site plan to minimize impacts to local drainage and reduce mitigation costs. Some questions to review with your engineers when analyzing surface water include:
- Are fixed array or trackers used?
- Can the technology accommodate a variety of topographic conditions, or is significant site leveling needed?
- What are construction-related impacts to local drainage?
- What considerations in the hydraulic analysis need to be made for construction staging areas, access roads, and soil stockpile areas?
An often overlooked consideration for solar projects is how a specific system sheds stormwater. While a high-level overview of a site may indicate minimal impacts (limited grading, no or minimal impervious surfaces, etc.) a closer look may indicate that the individual system can impact systems hydraulics by concentrating flow in a local area. This flow concentration may require consideration of additional hydromodification measures.
Surface Water Analysis Informs Mitigation Measures
Once site impacts have been quantified by analyzing surface water issues, your engineers can help select, analyze, and design the appropriate mitigation measures. These may include infiltration trenches around proposed structures, retention/detention basins, types of dissipation systems for areas of concentrated flows, natural versus engineered erosion control systems, and water quality improvement best management practices.
After analyzing surface water, the planning and design stage should take into account which mitigation measures will be the most efficient and cost-effective for the site’s owner to construct, operate, and maintain in the near and long-term.
For more information, contact Energy Practice Director David Hochart.