A tiny 1 megawatt community solar project that was progressing toward a buildout on leased private land in Lincoln County has pressed pause after local residents made it clear they don’t want it.
Lincoln County commissioners this week denied a conditional use permit request for the solar project at the request of Lower Valley Energy (LVE), an electric cooperative that serves Lincoln and Teton counties, including Jackson.
The solar farm was proposed as a renewable energy project designed to give homeowners and renters a way to save money on electric bills.
Subscriptions would have been geared toward renters and homeowners who could not install their own solar panels, said LVE spokesperson Brian Tanabe.
Co-op members would be invited to buy shares of the solar farm and then receive credit on their bills for the amount of electricity that their panel produced. The project would have powered 200-500 homes.
While Tanabe said any LVE customer could have benefitted from the project and bought shares, some locals residents had a problem with the solar farm being in Lincoln County, yet benefiting people in Jackson.
“From what I understand, this is a project geared to help Jackson," said Pamela Wolfley, who lives in Etna.
“If it is geared to Jackson, then it should be in Jackson instead of here,” Wolfley told Cowboy State Daily. “We get a lot of Jackson’s things they don’t want.
"We’re a bedroom community for Jackson because their workers can’t afford to live there.”
The Project That Hasn’t Materialized
Lincoln County Commission Chairman Kent Connelly told Cowboy State Daily the project’s conditional use permit was nixed this week because it appeared the co-op wasn’t ready to take the proposal to its next step.
Lower Valley Energy announced in March 2025 its plan to launch the community solar project in Lincoln County’s Star Valley.
The co-op partnered with Teton County Energy Conservation Works, a joint powers board with representation from the town of Jackson, Teton County, Lower Valley Energy and residents to search for sites that would be suitable to the project, Tanabe said.
“We looked really hard in Teton County,” Tanabe said. "We looked in Soda Springs, Idaho. And we just couldn’t find a lease that would make the project financially viable."
When Teton County Energy Conservation Works backed out of the project, LVE turned its focus to Lincoln County.
“We put out a request to see if any private residences were interested in leasing us some land,” Tanabe said.
That request led to securing a 7-acre lease in rural Bedford, between Thayne and Afton.
‘I’m Simply Opposed To It'
LVE hosted a public open house in March 2025 to hear public comment on the proposed project.
“We booked essentially the biggest public meeting place near where the site was selected,” Tanabe said — the Thayne Community Center.
That’s when the group learned that Lincoln County residents didn’t like the solar farm plan.
“A lot of people just didn’t want it at the Bedford site,” Tanabe said. “It’s a small community. It was not something they believed in.”
One of the main sticking points was that residents had had enough of the natural landscape being converted into use for industrial needs.
“I’m simply opposed to it,” Wolfley told Cowboy State Daily. “A big, ugly solar farm right in the middle of our valley where we have lovely views, that is a big impact to our community.”
In September, LVE met with Lincoln County commissioners in Kemmerer, where the project was met with more pushback from the public.
Commissioners requested that LVE host one more public comment period before moving forward.
More Of The Same
A second open house at the Thayne Community Center in October was more of the same.
“At that meeting, we addressed the previous concerns and some new concerns arose,” Tanabe said.
While Tanabe said he felt LVE was well prepared to address residents’ previous concerns, they weren’t prepared for new complaints that included questions around possible groundwater poisoning from heavy metal within the solar panels’ infrastructure and pollution of a nearby aquifer.
“The new concerns caught us off guard,” Tanabe said.
At the end of that meeting, LVE decided it would look at moving the project onto state-owned land.
That would require filing a conditional use permit request with the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments.
At the same time, LVE welcomed a new CEO, Bear Prairie. That transition along with the public unrest caused the company to withdraw its conditional use permit request.
“We just wanted to take a step back,” Tanabe said.
At LVE’s request, the Lincoln County Commissioners this week officially put the project on hold.
Now What?
Tanabe said the future of the community solar farm is uncertain.
LVE remains interested in exploring potential sites for it, he said, adding, “We were excited to see the possibilities.”
“I think there are people waiting on both sides,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “People know projects like these are slow-moving. While there was opposition in Star Valley, others were in favor.”
Wolfley said she was thrilled to see that the co-op had withdrawn its conditional use permit, but said she is doubtful that the issue is dead.
A statement on the LVE website reads, “We continue to explore potential sites but have also not removed anything formally from consideration.
"We continue to engage and listen to our communities and members we serve to hopefully locate the best site that meets everyone’s needs and expectations.”
Kate Meadows can be reached at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.
