A 900-acre proposed solar farm in Cherokee County might be the fourth largest in Iowa and provide substantial tax revenues to the rural county residents.
But standing in the way is a proposed zoning ordinance that would require a setback minimum of up to 13 times greater than the average setback requirements for solar farms across America.
Supporters of the project, that has been in discussion for more than two years, say that if this setback is approved by the zoning board next week, the project will likely die.
Bellefy
| File photo
The Maple River Solar Project, being developed by TED Renewables, is a proposed solar farm that would produce 160 megawatts. That would generate enough clean energy to power approximately 27,000 homes annually.
If the project goes through, it would be one of the largest solar farms in the state and would be a boon to the small county in northwest Iowa of fewer than 12,000 residents.
The Cherokee County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote May 13 to determine the zoning board's ordinance for the setback. The supervisors can accept the zoning board's recommendations as is or change them. The county currently has no solar farms, but there are at least 16 utility-scale solar farms in the state.
One of the biggest hurdles facing the project is the zoning setback ordinances for the project set up by the county Zoning Board.
These ordinances specify the required distance between solar installations and property lines, roads, residences or other features. They play a significant role in determining where and how solar farms can be developed. The average zoning setback for a solar farm in the United States is between 50 and 300 feet, depending on the object or boundary. Most of them are 50 to 150 feet.
But the Cherokee Zoning Commission is proposing a setback of up to 1,320 feet from inhabited dwellings, which would be classified as highly restrictive and would limit the available land for solar development and is not typical for such photovoltaic solar arrays in the United States.
By comparison, the setback requirement from inhabited dwellings for a similar solar project in Webster County is 150 feet.
Shane Bellefy is on the Cherokee County Board of Supervisors.
When he questioned the setback requirements of 1,320 feet at a recent meeting, he said Zoning Commissioner Adam Glienke didn’t know the specifics. Bellefy also questioned the data used to come up with the 1,320-foot setback for the solar project, noting the industry standard 50-foot to 150-foot setbacks for other similar projects elsewhere in the state.
“Whether it’s TED or others, we have to do the fact-finding to figure out if we’re open for business or not,” Bellefy said. “This 1,320-foot setback doesn’t follow other setbacks and ordinances.
“When I questioned the Zoning Board member on the only solar farm they’ve ever toured and asked him, he didn’t know the setbacks. That’s a very pertinent piece of information. In my profession, there are certain parameters you should know and questions you should ask when you’re trying to gather information.”
Bellefy, who had a banking background, put it in banking terms.
“It’s like not knowing the rates and terms on a loan,” he said. “You have to know that information going in if you want to compare apples to apples.”
For comparison, wind farms often have much larger setback requirements that are sometimes 1,300 to 1,600 feet. So do buildings on hog and turkey farms because of the smell associated with them.
Maple River project developer Justin Wills had questioned the unusual setback request.
“I understand that a quarter-mile setback kind of originate from all you mentioned – wind turbines, hog buildings,” he was quoted in a recent Cherokee Chronicle Times article about the April public hearing. “(Solar is) a very different technology. There’s no smell, there’s nothing rotating. It’s much higher.
“So, for those reasons, we believe it would be more reasonable to reduce that some bit.”
Acreage limits also could be a possible issue.
Last year, county engineer Kelly Puhrmann presented the original ordinance draft to the county Board of Supervisors. Two supervisors – Cheryl Ellis and Bryan Petersen – voiced concern over the “restrictive nature of the original ordinance” and stressed that landowner rights should be respected.
Bellefy and other officials also have criticized the slow nature of the entire process related to the solar project.
“We have to be better than that,” he recently told the Chronicle Times newspaper, also saying the county needs to show it is “open for business” and respect landowner rights.
Glienke also proposed cutting the 1,000-acre cap on this and other similar projects to 500 acres each as a way to preserve farmland.
Elias Toshiro, director of project development and corporate planning for TED Renewables, said that cap would be detrimental to the Maple River and any future possible future projects.
“So, our project will need to basically compete in the wholesale market for electricity,” Toshiro was quoted by the Chronicle Times. “And this electricity market is very competitive, and typically, all projects need to pursue some kind of economies of scale.
“This 500-acre cap would probably kill our project and will probably be a red flag to most other projects that would want to come to this county down the road.”
In a recent Chronicle Times letter to the editor, a landowner and farmer questioned the rationale behind officials not supporting the project.
“I am having difficulty understanding that Cherokee County would limit the amount of acres for solar panels,” wrote Harold J. Post in his letter posted May 1. “It appears that there is not a reason but just that you are opposed to them. Solar panels may have an aesthetic appeal, based on feelings, similar to livestock facilities but they do not smell, pollute the air or ruin roads.
“There does not appear to be any acreage requirements or numbers for turkey buildings, hog buildings or cattle confinements, so why limitations on solar panels?”
Post also mentioned the possible issue of taking farming “land out of production” that would reduce money spent in the county.
“However, it appears that there are many acres of CRP (U.S. Department of Agriculture Conservation Reserve Program) land in Cherokee County, some of which is prime farmland,” he wrote. “Several outside corporations own livestock buildings taking finances away from the county. There does not seem to be a limit on harvest of crop acres but, at the same time, one is limited on the amount of sun that can be harvest if one chooses to harvest the sun.
“One can understand if the crop interferes with the livelihood of neighbors and others, but solar harvesting does not interfere with anything other than perceptions of appearance. In addition, solar energy actually uses energy produced by the suns which would produce a cooling effect rather than heating up the atmosphere.”
Post wondered about the long-term impact.
“Are we forward thinking with concerns about the atmosphere and excessive pollution or is this a way to not plan ahead?” he wrote. “Certainly, electricity will become more expensive in the future and will use up much of our resources.
“Lastly should one not be able to use land as one sees fit as long as they do not interfere with others, are not polluting the atmosphere or water supply, and causing economic hardship? I trust that you would make a wise decision that will benefit the county and the individuals that live in the county.”
Another member of the Board of Supervisors, Dave Skou, seems to be in favor of the zoning board's current recommendations.
"I think we need to support the zoning commission," Skou said at last month's supervisors meeting. "We put them in that position, and I think they've done a damn good job. And in my opinion, I don't see anything wrong with the way this ordinance is written."
According to data from Maple River, the project would provide many benefits to taxpayers:
* When completed and operational, the Maple River Solar Project would generate annual tax payments of $175,000 or more annually, which will largely be distributed to the local county and school district.
* The project also would create about 200 jobs for 1-2 years during the construction phase as well as a few highly skilled long-term jobs.
* The solar lease payments would help local farmers and landowners diversify their income in ways that can be reinvested in their farms and communities.
* At the end of the project’s operating period, the equipment will be recycled or reused, and the land restored to its original condition. The soil will be improved substantially due to the long resting period and the presence of deep-rooted plants.
* Taxpayers and landowners are protected against decommissioning costs through a bond that Maple River Solar will post and routinely update, which will cover the entirety of the decommissioning cost.
* More than $150 million in estimated total project investment with more than $7 million in tax revenue reinvested into local and state communities.
* The estimated project size is 850 fenced acres, and it all would be privately-owned land leased to the project. Landowners would retain that ownership during and after the lease. The land will be made ready to resume farming after the lease expires.