The powerful and politically right-leaning Westlands Water District recently teamed up with left-leaning Democratic assemblymember Esmeralda Soria on renewable energy. Her bill, AB 2661, was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom last month and will allow Westlands in western Fresno County  to oversee the generation, storage and transmission of solar energy. Within Westlands, about 130,000 acres – a little more than one-third the footprint of the City of Los Angeles – has been taken out of agricultural production and is available for solar development under the renewable energy project, called the Valley Clean Infrastructure Plan (VCIP,) said Jose Gutierrez, assistant general manager of Westlands.