City planners to consider privately owned solar farm

The North Platte Planning Commission will review a conditional use permit for a solar farm on the south side of the city, even though the costs of solar energy would increase electric bills for residents and businesses, City Administrator Layne Groseth said recently.

Premier Energy proposes to build a 21.8-acre solar farm at Victoria Lane and State Farm Road. The planning commission will consider their condition use application at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 25, at City Hall.

The solar farm would be privately constructed by Premier Energy. It would aim to sell energy to North Platte Municipal Light & Water through the city’s sub-transmission system.

The use would be compatible with surrounding agricultural and industrial properties, including the Game and Parks fish hatchery ponds south of the site, Zoning Administrator Judy Clark said.

Premier Energy’s application for the zoning permit includes detailed specifications for panels, inverters, and mounting systems.

The project would use 565 to 595-watt panels that generate energy from both sides. Key features include 21.3% efficiency, 3.2 mm fully tempered hail-resistant glass, anti-reflective coatings for increased output, high humidity and temperature durability, Top Performer ratings from PV Evolution Labs, and a 15-year product warranty / 25-year performance guarantee.

Premier said the panels are Heliene 156HC M10 SL bifacial modules, manufactured in accordance with ISO 9001 international quality standards.

Solar panels naturally lose efficiency over time; these panels are expected to drop about 2% in the first year and only about 0.5% each year after that, the application says.

The solar farm would use CPS SCH200K-T-US-480 inverters to convert solar energy into usable electricity. These units are highly efficient, built to handle Nebraska weather, include built-in safety shutoffs, and can be monitored remotely to track performance, the company said in their application.

The panels would be mounted on SOL-X trackers, designed for terrain with slopes up to 30%. The trackers rotate throughout the day to follow the sun, boosting energy output. The system is built to handle uneven ground, withstand hail, use fewer moving parts to reduce breakdowns, and operate in extreme temperatures. Premier Energy says the tracking system increases efficiency and reduces maintenance costs over the array’s 25-35-year lifespan.

Premier submitted a full decommissioning cost breakdown:

• $738,000 removal & site restoration.
• $1.23 million salvage value of recyclable materials.

To ensure the city is protected, Premier would provide a $750,000 bond or create a dedicated decommissioning fund naming the city as beneficiary, the application says.

One key detail missing from the application is the actual cost of the power if the city were to buy it from Premier.

City analysis

City officials are wondering if North Platte should be involved in the power-generation business at all.

City administrator Layne Groseth and Utility Manager Tony Miller presented a financial analysis to the city council on Nov. 18 suggesting the answer is no, at least for now.

However, their analysis considered the prospect of a city-owned and operated solar farm, not the proposal for the city to buy electricity from Premier Energy, a private company.

Groseth and Miller told the council that solar power would cost residents significantly more than continuing to buy all electricity from the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD).

Groseth said he two ran calculations using NPPD data, Premier Energy’s installation estimates, federal bonding requirements, and projected long-term maintenance costs.

Groseth said, “It would take a pretty big swing before we reached a break-even point.”

The meeting was solely to study the prospect. No votes were taken.

Currently, North Platte pays NPPD about 4.7 cents per kilowatt-hour for wholesale power. A city-owned solar array, including installation, insurance, bonding, and long-term operations, would cost an estimated 7.8 cents per kWh, roughly 65% more than the current rate, Groseth said.

If the city buys 90% of its electricity from NPPD and 10% from solar, Groseth said annual costs would increase by $1.2 million. Factoring in NPPD’s projected increases in the future and a 1% annual escalator for solar power, the analysis showed a consistent 5–6% rate premium increase for customers through 2041.

With or without solar, electric rates will go up, Groseth said. “But we believe they would go up more with solar in the mix.”

Several council members raised concerns about bonding obligations, construction risk, federal tax-credit deadlines driving the timeline, and national trends showing widespread delays in large solar builds.

Also

In addition to the public hearing on the solar farm, the Planning Commission will also hold a public hearing to consider annexing 11 parcels totaling roughly 52 acres of government-owned land into the city limits.

The land includes that along the South Platte river near Centennial Park and by Harvest Christian Fellowship, a tower site along Front St, and the north side of E. 12th St. by the overpass over the railroad tracks.

Clark said the annexations would support orderly growth and improve long-term planning and delivery of services. 

And, the commissioners will hold another public hearing to review a request from the Lakeside Campground Holding Company to expand its existing conditional use permit and add four new recreational-vehicle storage buildings at 3800 Hadley Drive, east of the new Fat Dogs travel center.

The zoning staff recommends approval for both items.

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