AMERICAN FALLS — The Power County Planning and Zoning Board approved a special-use permit Tuesday night for a 300 megawatt solar farm on 6,500 acres of range land near this city.
Representatives with the applicant, NextEra Energy Resources based in Juno Beach, Florida, said the full build-out of the planned Moon Crater Solar and Storage Project will represent a roughly $500 million investment.
Once complete, officials say it will be Idaho’s largest solar farm. The company hopes to start construction in 2023 and commence operations by 2024.
Company officials plan to build the project in phases, with 100 megawatts to 200 megawatts of production capacity in the initial phase, and to add additional capacity according to demand.
The project will also entail building 300 megawatts of self-contained lithium batteries capable of storing power for up to four hours, providing the flexibility to use power generated while the sun is shining during peak nighttime hours.
NextEra is the world’s largest operator of renewable energy, with 136 wind projects and 41 solar projects — totaling 24,000 megawatts of generating capacity — in 38 states and four Canadian provinces. It would be the company’s first project in Idaho.
Lawlor said 300 megawatts of power would be sufficient to serve 65,000 typical homes per year.
In Idaho, renewable energy projects make payments in lieu of taxes to taxing entities. Once the project reaches its full capacity, it will generate about $1 million in annual payments in lieu of taxes for Power County, assessed based on power production.
The acres will be leased to the company by the Koompin and Ramsey farming and ranching families, who will also continue paying property taxes on the land.
“It’s a big win for this county. The county is needing help,” board member Bruce Winder said following a public hearing at the Power County Annex Building, during which the zoning request was approved.
The board added conditions that the applicant obtain bonding for the project and that it keep the Power County Highway District apprised of anticipated traffic and potential damage to roadways that could result.
In addition to the 140 construction jobs necessary to build the solar farm, the facility would require three to seven full-time employees, said David Lawlor, director of development with NextEra.
“We have other solar projects that are larger, but it’s definitely on the larger size,” Lawlor said.
Chris Powers, NextEra’s senior project manager, environmental, said the company has reached an interconnection agreement with Idaho Power, allowing them to connect to the grid, but they don’t have a power purchase agreement yet and are still marketing the energy to various entities.
Powers said the solar panels would be bifacial — capable of capturing light from both sides, thereby collecting additional light reflected from snow during winter months. He said the company will build a substation adjacent to the farm with step-up transformers, and the energy will be transferred from there to the nearby Borah Substation, which has ample capacity to handle the project.
The panels have a roughly 35-year life expectancy. Lawlor said the panels would be recycled and the site would be reclaimed upon the project’s retirement.
Powers said NextEra has either completed or is conducting surveys on biological resources, water impacts, cultural resources, pedestrian use and soil impacts. He said the company is consulting with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and will either avoid or mitigate for any affects on cultural resources.
During the public hearing, several people testified as being neutral or in favor of the application, but nobody testified in opposition. Becky Johnson, with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, voiced concerns that a large, fenced enclosure could disrupt elk and antelope migration routes.
“I would respectfully disagree with the notion that there are no biological resources on that property,” Johnson said, adding that crop depredation by big game is already a problem in that area and Fish and Game would like to be a participant in future planning discussions.
Powers said in response that the panels will be built in separate, fenced clusters to avoid large rock outcroppings throughout the property, which would allow wildlife to pass through unimpeded. Powers explained the presence of the rock clusters is why his company required such a large swath of land for the project.
Ken Koompin, whose family owns part of the range land where the panels are to be built, emphasized that the property isn’t very productive for agricultural uses and could never be used for crop production.
“The land out there where they’re proposing this, the solar farm is probably the best use this land will ever see,” Koompin said. “A cow has to work pretty hard there to find something to eat.”
American Falls resident Mike Ferguson testified in support of the project, reasoning it positions the county well for the future.
“I was kind of surprised that it is feasible now, but I’m tickled that it is,” Ferguson said. “Our demand for electricity is going to increase as time goes on and we all know we’re going to have to move away from carbon fuels. This is one of those options.”
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