CASPER — A proposed 2,010-arce solar farm and battery storage facility on private ranch land has a green light from the Natrona County Planning Commission.
The commission gave its approval for the development 24 miles northwest of Casper during its Tuesday meeting on a 3-1 vote.
Members Hal Hutchinson, Sabrina Kemper, and Robert Grant voted in favor of the request by EG Haystack Solar LLC, a subsidiary of Enfinity Global, while Chad McNutt voted against.
EG Haystack’s plan is to build a 199-megawatt utility-scale solar power generation system along with 100 MW of battery storage on site.
Two people spoke in favor of the plan, while several residents spoke against it.
“I am having a hard time seeing the benefits of this project given the cost, given everything that we have heard,” McNutt said. “It just doesn’t seem that there is a huge amount of benefit.”
Hutchinson said he understands some of the environmental and wildlife concerns voiced earlier by residents. But planning rules and regulations allow for a solar farm on Natrona County land that’s zoned for rural, agricultural and mining.
Also, the development would be a private, not public, land, he said.
“We have a property owner that wanted to do something with their property, and we have written rules and regulations that says that says he can do it,” he said.
$40 Million Benefit
Enfinity Global representative Dale Harris said the solar farm located just south of U.S. Highway 20/26 and just east of Natrona Road would produce a net benefit to the county of at least $40 million over the estimated 30-year life of the project.
Project modeling shows the county would receive $45 million in property taxes over the three-decade span. He estimated there would be 250 construction jobs and a $379,000 benefit in state lodging taxes.
Harris said the location was picked because of its zoning and that solar panels are permitted by right there. The plan includes a substation, panel area, access roads and medium voltage collection system.
As part of the approval recommendation to county commissioners, the planners cited the need for project to go through the Wyoming Industrial Act application process that will address several of the concerns.
Residents opposed to the project cited potential fire risks, pollution, construction traffic, the effects of the project on wildlife and solar glare from the panels.
Planning Commission consultant Shawn Gustafson said the mandated Industrial Siting Act process would address several of the issues raised by residents around the environment.
Harris said the site’s setback distance from the highway and rural placement was chosen to keep it from being obtrusive.
For those with concerns about metals leaching into the groundwater from the panels, he said panels at the site would not contain any cadmium telluride that could pollute groundwater. Typical panels would be 76% glass, 10% plastic polymer, 8% aluminum, 1% copper and less than a percent silver or other metals.
“We have been working with Wyoming Game and Fish,” Harris said. “We are going to avoid all wetlands at the site and we are not going to have any sort of leaking of hazardous chemicals.
He said the site would have three migration corridors for animals to “mitigate potential environmental impact.”
Fire Issues
Planners heard a presentation from Natrona County Fire Chief Brian Oliver who said concerns about increase potential for fire related to the project would primarily involve the lithium storage batteries as well as grass fires that would encroach on the facility.
Oliver said that fighting a grass fire amid the panels would be a challenge, but a lithium battery fire would be the main concern for area residents and the department — even though they are safer now.
“When there is a problem with lithium batteries, especially on this scale, it becomes a pretty major event,” he said. “It can be catastrophic for several reasons.”
Harris said the company submitted its emergency management plan to the county and to Oliver, and will “work with” the fire chief to ensure there’s a “wildfire mitigation plan.”
Traffic concerns raised by residents and the Wyoming Department of Transportation also will be addressed, Harris said. WYDOT recommended the need for a left turn lane at the site because of heavy traffic during construction.
The Natrona County Road Commission advised that the bridge at Natrona Road will not handle heavy equipment. Harris said the company will use a private access road on the property that can accommodate the heavy equipment.
Sheila Kilts of Kaycee said she owns the land the project will be on and that revenue from the project will benefit the county.
She said as a landowner she should be allowed to host the project because it’s her land, “as long as it’s not harming any of my neighbors.”
“We are a huge energy industry state, and we are not here to say we are against any of the other energy industries,” she said. “We support gas, we support coal, we support all of those things. This is an additional benefit. An additional source of energy for the state.”
‘Keep It Ranch’
Residents voicing opposition to the project Tuesday included Robert Coon, who said he recently bought 40 acres not far from the proposed site for his retirement. He said there are several others like him who live in the area seeking the rural lifestyle.
“They say they’ve got safety protocols in place to stop any contamination in the ground. It’s not going to happen,” he said. “I worked 20 years in the oil patch. It’s going to get affected one way or another.
“I’m against the project. I mean, 2,000 acres of ranch land? Keep it ranch.”
Property owners Robert and Melisa Schillinger wrote that they oppose the project because the building site that “encroaches on the only subdivision in the entire area, grossly impeding the views, tranquility of residents and would eliminate the natural water tributary of the Reid Canyon Draw and Johnson Canyon.”
Scott Engle, a Pine Mountain subdivision resident, said he finds it hard to believe that the project would not produce solar glare, as stated by the company.
“There’s a whole bunch of people on Pine Mountain that is about 6,000 feet that can see to Casper,” he said. “We’re going to see that, and it’s just going to be a huge eyesore.”
He also questioned where the company would sell its electricity because “it would be too expensive” for Wyoming.
The recommendation for approval will be on the Dec. 3 agenda for the Natrona County Board of Commissioners to consider.
Harris told planners that Enfinity Global has operations in a dozen states as well as overseas.
Elsewhere
Wyoming has become a target for large solar farms.
Endbridge Inc. plans to build a huge $1.2 billion solar farm project in south Cheyenne that would have 1.2 million solar panels generating up to 771 MW of electricity when fully operational. It will be the largest solar farm in the state, when built.
It’s needed to supply power to a new Meta Platforms Inc. (Facebook) data centerbeing built off South Greeley Road in south Cheyenne.
Another project near Yoder calls for a $155 million solar farm with 326,000 hail-resistant panels to resist the harsh weather in Wyoming’s “Hail Alley.”
In Goshen County, a solar project proposed to put panels up on posts high enough to also use the land underneath to graze sheep on.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
