Palo photo voltaic initiatives accepted with ultimate supervisor vote

Jo Pearson addresses the board throughout an Aug. 29 assembly of the Linn County Board of Supervisors to debate the proposed Palo photo voltaic farm initiatives close to Palo. Pearson spoke in help of the undertaking citing a accountability to future generations and the contributions of fossil fuels to local weather change in her help. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)

Nextera Vitality indicators close to the doorway to The Duane Arnold Vitality Middle close to Palo on Aug. 29. The previous nuclear energy plant web site is central to a proposed photo voltaic power and power storage growth. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)

Linn County Supervisors (from left) Stacey Walker, Ben Rogers, and Louis Zumbach on Aug. 29 take heed to public remark throughout a gathering of the Linn County Board of Supervisors to debate the proposed Palo photo voltaic farm initiatives close to Palo. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)

After three conferences of 2-1 votes by the Linn County Supervisors, the NextEra Duane Arnold Photo voltaic initiatives close to Palo formally have been given the go forward.

For the third time in two weeks, the vote Tuesday night was cut up alongside celebration strains with Democrats Ben Rogers and Stacey Walker voting sure and Republican Louie Zumbach voting no.

The Iowa Utilities Board already has accepted the initiatives.

“It’s uncommon that you simply come throughout initiatives that deliver collectively working individuals, enterprise and trade, commerce and environmentalists that normally have competing pursuits however have discovered a undertaking the place a number of pursuits align and a undertaking that can be utilized to get on the local weather disaster we face,” Walker mentioned.

“I do not think about this undertaking is ideal, however it’s a start line and it is my hope going ahead that there will likely be learnings from this undertaking.”

Zumbach, talking of the county’s ordinance and undertaking, mentioned that, “I do not imagine we’re precisely doing our due diligence. I believe it is too obscure.”

Whereas NextEra will develop the agricultural Linn County undertaking close to Palo, Alliant Vitality has filed a proposal with the Iowa Utilities Board to purchase the large-scale photo voltaic farm from NextEra and additional develop it into the state’s largest photo voltaic and battery storage facility, if the utilities board approves the plan.

Duane Arnold Photo voltaic I undertaking proposes to make use of 316 acres of an 857-acre space to position photovoltaic photo voltaic arrays able to producing as much as 50 megawatts of power.

Duane Arnold Photo voltaic II undertaking would use 815 acres of a 1,780-acre space to position photo voltaic arrays able to producing as much as 150 MW. It additionally would come with a 75-MW, four-hour battery power storage facility.

The battery power storage system can have about 96 20-by-eight-foot containers that can home 7,040 lithium-ion battery modules.

NextEra representatives have mentioned they plan to have the Palo initiatives operational by December 2024. Development is projected to start within the first quarter of 2023.

Renee Potts, the daughter of a collaborating landowner, tearfully shared that she was on the assembly in help of her father.

“Operating a farm is dear for individuals who have smaller farms,” she mentioned. “I do know our farm most years, we occur to run within the purple and never the black … .

“Photo voltaic is the suitable alternative and, for us personally, this retains the farm within the household.”

NextEra, which has operated in Iowa since 1999 and has 12 wind farms within the state, mentioned it plans to take a position $800 million within the photo voltaic undertaking, together with $50 million paid to landowners for voluntary easements over the undertaking’s 30-year life span.

It could be the corporate’s first photo voltaic undertaking in Iowa.

The applying for the Palo photo voltaic initiatives was submitted in February. It contains web site and decommissioning plans, financial and land-use evaluation, vegetation administration and agricultural influence mitigation plans, setback evaluation and a screening plan, amongst different paperwork.

The undertaking is estimated to cut back carbon dioxide emissions by about 9.49 million metric tons per yr.

Within the first assembly, on Aug. 29, Zumbach moved so as to add a negotiable setback, permitting for as much as 1,250 toes. The county’s setback rule is 300 toes for utility-scale photo voltaic initiatives.

The movement was voted down 2-1 in that preliminary assembly, however many in attendance on the second assembly shared their help for that movement.

As with the opposite conferences round this subject, dozens of individuals spoke in the course of the public remark interval, lasting for a couple of hours, in help of the undertaking and towards.

The town of Palo unanimously handed a decision earlier this yr asking the supervisors to vote towards the massive photo voltaic undertaking. In August the town of Cedar Rapids handed a decision supporting the undertaking.

“If it’s your conviction and steadfast perception that this undertaking is true for our neighborhood … then Palo will do what Palo should,” Palo Mayor Eric Van Kerckhove informed the supervisors on Tuesday evening. “We are going to discover alternative inside this problem as a result of no one else goes to do it for Palo … . We are going to rise to the event and discover a solution to transfer our neighborhood ahead.”

Within the Aug. 29 assembly, Van Kerckhove mentioned the initiatives are “straight within the path of Palo’s progress. The overall consensus of the residents of Palo, (they) have expressed to the council that the neighborhood is against the event.”

That is the second utility-scale photo voltaic undertaking the county has accepted this yr. In January, the supervisors accepted developer Clenera’s Coggon undertaking in a 2-1 vote after planning and zoning fee members voted 6-1 to advocate denial.

Nonetheless, progress on the 640-acre photo voltaic farm close to Coggon is on maintain whereas a court docket resolves a case introduced towards the supervisors by a household who lives close to the location.

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