Solar project conditional use permit decision delayed - Rural Radio Network

Solar project conditional use permit decision delayed

A California company’s plan for a utility-scale solar project on private land in the southwest corner of Scotts Bluff County is on hold for the time being.

The County Planning Commission last night held a public hearing on the request for a conditional use permit by Situla Energy Project, LLC of San Marcos, Calif., for a project of more than 600,000 solar panels that would generate up to 400 megawatts of electricity.

Ethan Jahnke of 2DOT Consulting and the Senior Project Manager, told the panel there were a few changes since the original CUP appeared before them during their November meeting. One involved an increase in the overall land that would be part of the project to about 4,200 acres, but the 4′ by 8′ solar panels would be confined to about 2,000 acres. The site would be situated generally between County Road 3 and Stegall Road, and north of County Road X, with a plan to start construction October 1, 2024, completion by September 2025, and the start of operations that December.

Scott James of Scottsbluff, who oversees CS Precision in Gering, questioned what he called preferential treatment. “We’ve got 120 employees, pay millions of dollars in wages every year, pay over a quarter million dollars in property and personal property taxes here. We recently did a one megawatt solar field just to support our facility over here in Gering and we haven’t gotten any special treatment or anything on our taxes,” said James. “A company that’s not local, that’s going to come in and provide little to no long term employment, gets millions of dollars of tax breaks by not building land commercial like it should be, for a revenue generating business.”

Another change since the November meeting involved company officials agreeing to providing a $5 million bond to protect the landowners from any potential decommissioning costs, but County Commissioner Russ Reisig said that really wouldn’t cover it.

“If you guys want to put up $5 million or seven or 10 million lifetime project in escrow account, then we have something to talk about,” said Reisig. “You guys know I’ve been in the demolition business for 50 years. I did the demolition takeoff of that job. And you take 2000 acres of this product and crush it down to six inches, put it in a two acre landfill. That’s 1000ft of product…. There is no way you’re going to do that for $5 million.”

State Senator Brian Hardin said with the pending Sentinel Missile upgrade, the solar field was a curious project in a sensitive place at a sensitive time, but Commissioner Mick Lookabill said their role in the process was not a political one. “We’re not looking at it from any perspective other. Does it pass the criteria to pass our rules and regulations?” said Lookabill.

Hardin responded that “As stewards of the protection of the people who live here, I disagree with you. The satisfaction of someone like Strategic Command will not be complete until they hear from Northrup-Grumman, their contractor, and the 90th Missile Wing, their military steward. And the powers that be in Lincoln will also place higher scrutiny on any project on borders or is within that missile field because of its sensitivity and uniqueness.”

Others speaking at the hearing questioned who was really behind the limited liability companies involved in the project, and what impact construction vehicles would have on Stegall Road, which would be the main access to the construction site from Highway 88 in Banner County.

A decision on the conditional use permit was tabled for consideration at a future date.