As an engineering and environmental consultant, I led compliance and permitting efforts for ConEdison on this engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) project.
California's ambitious clean energy goals made this a high profile and fast paced project. It tested my organizational and interpersonal communication skills, leading to immense professional growth.
Phase one of the Westside Canal Battery Storage Project. The project stores 131MW - equivalent to the energy requirements for 131,000 homes - for the City of San Diego and its surrounding areas.
Working for two firms, I provided onsite compliance measures in a variety of disciplines. I ensured that every item required by the many authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) on the project were taken care of and that the project abided by the parameters of the permits obtained.
Through my several projects in this roll, I found that creating a master permit & compliance matrix was paramount to stay on top of the many different regulatory deliverables I managed on each project.
Environmental Responsibilities
Due to its location, this project had a bevy of environmental requirements. The site is in San Diego County - home to the second-most endangered species ofany country in the U.S. It's surrounded by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land on three sides and is bisected by the Colorado River. Finally, it's in the Imperial Valley, which is home to the second worst air quality in the U.S.
Prior to this project, I had never worked in the southwest. The environmental implications were far different than those I had faced on my prior projects in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Georgia. It was also my first time working on site without any other coworkers of the same company. I learned how to figure things out on my own and have confidence in my abilities as a self-starter and problem solver.
Silt fence and fiber roll integrity inspection during the pouring of the Westside Canal bridge wingwall. Documentation of functioning storm water best-management-practices (BMPs) were required for the stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWPP), the spill prevention, control, and countermeasure plan (SPCC), and the 401 Colorado River Basin permit.
Here are a few of the environmental compliance standards I managed on this project:
Air Quality
- Imperial County Air Pollution Control District (ICAPCD) fugitive dust emissions control
- California Air Resources Board (CARB) combustion engine emissions allowance
Habitat Protection
- Flat Tailed Horned Lizard habitat encroachment monitoring
- Burrowing Owl habitat encroachment monitoring
Water Quality
- Colorado River Basin section 401 water quality compliance
- National pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) erosion and sediment (E&S) and post-construction stormwater management (PCSM) plan transmittals, inspections and redlines
- Imperial Irrigation District (IID) water quality compliance, construction safety assurance and dust control water usage logging
- Imperial County stormwater pollution prevention plan
- Imperial County spill prevention, control and countermeasure plan
Miscellaneous
- Imperial County waste management plan
- Imperial County pest control plan
Engineering Responsibilites
Like the environmental standards, the engineering AHJs were extremely stringent on compliance standards due to the site location. The seismic considerations were immense due to the site's proximity to the San Andreas Fault. Similarly, the importance of this energy storage for the San Diego area led to strict ancillary quality assurance standards.
Due to the speed of the project and the aformentioned compliance standards, I had to be extremely organized and disciplined with my time in order to keep my many engineering compliance responsibilities up-to-date.
I had worked on solar farm projects before, but this was my first energy storage project. Being the only on-site employee for both consulting firms I worked under, I was forced to learn the civil, structural, mechanical and high-voltage details that went into this project on the job.
Workers installing conduit between battery energy storage system (BESS) units. Imperial County building permits required civil, structural and high-voltage third party certifications, state certified engineer sign offs, and in-person inspections by the county engineer for each of the BESS units.