20SD 8MW, LLC, better known as 8 Minute Solar, takes top spot in Tulare County for property assessment; agriculture still holds 12 of the top 20 spots
TULARE COUNTY – Agriculture still dominates the list of Tulare County’s most valuable businesses, but a different kind of farm has taken over the top spot.
The Tulare County Assessor’s Office recently released its annual report of the Top 20 businesses in the county, based on the amount of total business property assessment.
Most of the list includes major agriculture operations whose names are familiar both here and internationally, such as California Dairies (No. 2), Setton Pistachio (No. 2), Land O’Lakes (No. 3), Saputo Cheese (Nos. 7 & 15), and Lactalis (No. 10). In fact, 12 of the top 20 businesses are agriculture related businesses, including Ventura Coastal (No. 5), Calgren Dairy Fuels (No. 9), Touchstone Pistachios (No. 11), Treehouse Almonds (No. 12), Porterville Citrus (No. 17) and Western Milling (No. 20).
But the top company in terms of assessed value is an energy company with a massive southern Tulare County solar farm, 20SD 8MW, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of AES Clean Energy. The entity was created to develop and operate the Rexford Solar Farm, a major solar and battery storage project located on a 3,614-acre site in Ducor, California.
The developer 8 Minute Solar, owners of the Rexford 1 Solar Project, is now developing the second phase of the project, or Rexford 2, near the town of Ducor in southeastern Tulare County. Approved by Tulare County in 2020, Rexford 1 was already the largest solar farm in the nation, estimated to generate 700 megawatts (MW) with another 700 MW of battery storage.
Now, with its second phase, 8 Minute Solar — named for the amount of time it takes for the sun’s light to reach the Earth — is building a 500 MW system with 500 MW of storage on 1,200 acres near the original project for a combined 1,200 MW of solar energy and 1,200 MW of storage. The project covers nearly 5,000 acres.
The project is slated to come online between 2027 and 2028.
The list also includes another energy company you may not have heard about. Renewable energy developer Ormat Technologies operates two major utility-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). Bottleneck Energy Storage Facility is an active 80 MW / 320 MWh lithium-ion battery storage facility located in Tulare. It entered commercial operations in October 2024 and operates under a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement.
Ormat also owns the Shirk Energy Storage Project, an active 80 MW / 320 MWh facility located in Tulare. It achieved full commercial operation on March 12, and is backed by a hybrid tax equity partnership with Morgan Stanley Renewables.
The list also includes retail giants Amazon, which has two distribution centers in Visalia and is good enough to be No. 8 on the list; Walmart, which has a major distribution center in Porterville and comes in at No. 16 on the list; and UPS, No. 13 on the list, also with a major statewide logistics warehouse.
There are two food processing companies on the list, Dreyers Ice Cream is No. 14 on the list, and Ruiz Foods, known for manufacturing and processing the El Monterey brand of frozen foods, comes in at No. 14. No. 19 on the list is Banc of America Leasing & Capital, the consumer financing arm of Bank of America.
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