Cowboy Energy of Sheridan has invested millions of dollars and spent three years developing what would be one of Wyoming's first agriculture-friendly solar installation.
The project promises to generate badly needed property tax revenue for Goshen County while allowing agricultural operations to continue on the same land — putting the “farm” in solar farm.
The project aims to produce 163 megawatts of electricity and is shovel-ready to develop with permits and leased land ready to go. But here’s the catch: There’s currently no feasible way to transmit that electricity to market, according to the company.
The nonprofit Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association owns transmission lines that cross the project’s leased property, but Cowboy Energy has failed to strike a deal with Tri-State.
“We're having an issue with them putting our energy online,” said Paul Stroud, development manager for Cowboy Energy, adding that Tri-State offered to transmit the electricity starting in 2034.
This time lag caused the project’s original investing partner, Portugal-based Greenvolt Power, to back out of the project, according to Cowboy Energy.
“We probably got a million bucks or so into studies with Tri-State trying to satisfy all their needs," Stroud said. "But we haven't been able to get something going.”
Mark Stutz, spokesperson for Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, told Cowboy State Daily that, “We do have to provide the access if we have the capacity.”
There is an annual 45-day window that opens Aug. 25 when generating companies can apply for transmission with Tri-State. If the project is accepted “into the queue,” Stutz said. Then it could take up to 18 months or longer for a project to be reviewed.
Publicly available documents show a 163-megawatt project in Goshen County was pulled by the applicant from the queue earlier this year by the applicant. The documents show that the project could have come online by 2029.
There's another ag-friendly solar project in the works, a huge $500 million proposed solar farm called the Dutchman Renewable Power Project, on 3,700 acres bordering the North Platte River near Glenrock.
The developers are BrightNight LLC and Cordelio Power. BrightNight is an international company with projects all over the U.S. and Southeast Asia, and Cordelio Power is a Canadian company with dozens of wind and solar projects located mainly in New York, Illinois and Ontario, Canada.
Initial reports from the companies were hopeful to be producing energy by July 2028.
Tax Bump?
Agrivoltaics, or dual-use solar production, is the practice of using the same land simultaneously for both solar energy production and agriculture.
Forging ahead with this approach, Cowboy Energy continues to tout the tax upside of its project for the state and Goshen County.
"This is all privately funded. We don't have any subsidies whatsoever," added Stroud, noting the company is exploring alternatives to the traditional utility transmission model. "We're reaching out to the data centers that are being produced in Cheyenne.
“And there's some pretty big companies there. We’d like to sell to them, but there's also rules in Wyoming against direct sale to a data center.”
Cowboy Energy has also reached out to at least one small electric co-op in the area to see if it could purchase some of the power and possibly provide transmission capacity.
Stroud went on to state the company plans to purchase solar panels from Canada and have them delivered by rail to benefit local tax revenue.
"What we decided to do was having those transported direct to Yoder at the rail station there," Stroud said. "And that way, Goshen County would get the tax, their sales tax for that."
Brian Young, CEO of Go Goshen Economic Development, said the solar project would generate needed economic benefits for the county of about 12,000 people.
"The economic impact, which is really what I can speak to, is significant," Young said. "Especially in light of the property tax cut here in the state of Wyoming that went through this last legislative cycle."
The project would generate $35 million in property taxes over its 30-year lifespan, said Young, who ran down the specific figures: "Just in say 2026, in the first year of the project, $1.94 million in property taxes, that goes out 30 years, and in the 30th year it's $389,000 in property taxes."
Young emphasized the construction phase would also provide an immediate economic boost, creating 250 construction jobs and additional sales tax revenue.
Young emphasized that Goshen County needs the revenue stream.
"We’re the second poorest — per capita — county in Wyoming. So that would be a game-changer in terms of our county and municipal tax generation," he said.
The economic development leader said the project would create approximately 250 construction jobs.
"It would more than offset any short-term concerns," Young said, referring to the project's economic boost versus community impacts.
Young said the project ranks at the top of economic development priorities for the county.
"These are big numbers for our community,” he said.
Pro-Ag Project
"We're not doing it like a lot of solar companies do,” insisted Stroud, characterizing the project as uniquely supportive of Goshen County’s agricultural community.
"What we do is pile drive 8-inch posts into the ground and leave it maybe 6 feet above so that they can still graze cattle or sheep or whatever they choose,” said Stroud.
The innovative design addresses water conservation concerns in drought-prone Goshen County by providing shade that helps retain groundwater.
"With the solar panels providing shade, depending where the sun is, seems to keep the groundwater — to hold it in," Stroud said, describing what makes this an agrivoltaic project — a style of energy development popular in other states and countries. "They're growing crops and all kinds of stuff in other areas right under the panels.
"We're the first ones to actually start wanting to do agrivoltaics here in Wyoming. So, I just don't think the other (solar companies) have caught on to it.”
But there will be no grazing in the shade of solar panels in Goshen County if Cowboy Energy can’t find a way to transmit its solar electricity.
"We're not giving up. We've come too far and invested too much to walk away now,” said Stroud’s partner Hezy Ram. “We believe there's a path forward, whether it's through Tri State eventually coming around or through these alternative partnerships we're exploring."
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
