Creative Effects Assessments and Mitigations for Cultural Resources in Solar

Presentation Description: Significant cultural resources on a project site or in its viewshed complicate solar development and environmental review processes. Solar projects that have power purchase agreements with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), an independent federal agency, will undergo review through the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 process, with close attention to the effects the project may have on above- and below-ground cultural resources. Creative strategies can be implemented in planning, as well as during the compliance review process, that can help minimize and mitigate these potential issues. Identifying potentially significant resources and developing avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures in the design process allows for adjustments and the inclusion of buffers without jeopardizing the project. HDR will detail recent project examples that have employed desktop and field reconnaissance means to predict whether significant cultural resources may be present and that have assisted with considering visual effects and demonstrating anticipated minimal effects through built-facility renderings from resources of concern. Using some of the same project examples, TVA will present how it has employed renderings in its state historic preservation officer (SHPO) and tribal consultations to get to no adverse effect findings and, where adverse effects findings were concluded, mitigated such effects in consultation with SHPO and tribes.