OLIVIA
— A renewable energy company planning to build a large solar project in
Renville County
intends to address a check list of issues raised by the county, but there remains one sticking point.

Members of the
Renville County Board of Commissioners
told representatives of AES Clean Energy that they do not believe $3,334,478 is a sufficient amount to decommission the proposed Birch Coulee Solar Project at the end of its useful life.

AES Clean Energy representatives Lauren Colwell and Scott Groux met with the commissioners at their work session Dec. 17 to address an eight-point check list of issues the commissioners raised during a previous public hearing hosted by state regulators.

The county has estimated it would cost more than $13.4 million to recycle the 290,948 solar panels that the site will hold when the site is decommissioned. The estimate is based on a cost of 95 cents per pound of material to be recycled.

The commissioners asked state regulators to require that AES Clean Energy post a bond to cover those costs in the future. The company does not plan to post financial assurance until the 10th year of operations by the solar operation. It would post 25% of the decommissioning cost.

The company also estimates it will cost $13 million to decommission the site, but it states that it can reduce the net cost to just over $3 million by selling the metals in the panels for about $10 million. The company proposed the financial assurance of just over $3 million based on that expectation.

Colwell said financial assurance for decommissioning is considered after the 10th year of operations, when depreciation reduces the value of the site.

Commissioner Randy Kramer said the “market is unknown at this time.” The company cannot know the revenue it might realize from the sale of the metals. He said the county does not want to risk putting the burden of possible decommissioning costs on taxpayers.

Kramer also raised his concern that with a change in administrations coming to the federal government, the economics of renewable energy sites might not prove to be what was projected for the project.

Colwell told the commissioners that before the project would become operational, the company will approve a power purchase agreement with an entity committed to purchasing the energy. The agreement would provide financial assurance for the project, she explained.

The project is estimated to cost $245 million. It is proposed to be built on 1,000 acres in Birch Cooley, Camp and Brandon townships and the city of Franklin. Construction is expected to start in 2028 with operation to begin in 2030, according to Colwell.

That is a later startup than originally proposed, but she said the project must wait for other projects to connect to the regional transmission grid before it can do so.

AES Clean Energy met last month with an administrative law judge as part of the environmental assessment worksheet that must be completed for the permitting process. A second public hearing on the project is likely to be held in March in Renville County, she told the commissioners.

The company is fully on board with all of the other issues raised by the county, from pledging to repair or replace any tile lines that could be damaged by the project to providing screening at the site to meet the county’s ordinance.

Colwell and Groux said they would provide site maps to Renville County Environmental Services Director Scott Refsland so that the county could identify where trees should be planted as screening to meet county requirements.

The representatives said AES Clean Energy will also reach out to local and county emergency services to arrange for training and provide information as needed on how to respond to any possible emergency at the site.

AES Clean Energy has not experienced significant emergency incidents at other solar locations, with the exception of a “thermal event” at a site with a battery unit in Arizona.

A door was opened to access the battery unit, allowing oxygen to intensify the thermal event. No battery storage is proposed at the Birch Coulee site, according to Groux.

The
Birch Coulee project
is one of two large solar energy sites in the permitting process for locations in Renville County. Ranger Power, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, is seeking state regulatory approval for a 200-megawatt solar energy development known as the Gopher State Solar Project.

The estimated $200 million
Gopher State Solar Project
would erect solar panels on 977 acres of land within a 1,645-acre area of leased property located about three miles north of Bird Island in Kingman, Osceola and Bird Island townships, according to a presentation by Ranger Power at a public hearing earlier this year.