SMUD’s Integrated Resource Plan requires the addition of 250 MW of solar projects by the end of 2024, which requires approximately 1,000 acres of land. The first step to meeting this goal is to acquire land suitable for solar projects within the District’s service area. IEC was tasked with project management coordination for the selection and evaluation of potential land.

IEC's team of engineers compiled and organized all known information for potential solar sites and provided a “top 10 sites” list for acquisition. IEC created a spreadsheet inclusive of all land evaluations previously performed by SMUD, coordinated with SMUD to add new properties to the list of potential land acquisition, developed site selection criteria, received and incorporated SMUD’s electrical and environmental feedback to remove sites, and performed a GIS analysis based on size of site and distance to nearest substations to further filter out unsuitable sites. IEC used the final results to produce a summary presentation for SMUD. The SMUD project manager used this presentation for her meeting with the SMUD Resource Planning Coordination Committee for approval to move forward with purchasing land.