Largest solar farm planned for central Logan County gets first nod

 

[June 10, 2020] 

On June 4, the Zoning Board of Appeals held a public hearing via Zoom to consider a Conditional Use Permit for a Solar Farm. The application made by Apex / Mulligan is Logan County's largest solar farm request to date.

Those who shared information about the project included attorney for the project Kyle Barry and project manager Erin Baker.

Experts on the topics of solar glare, property values and decommissioning included Rick Coles from Capital Airspace, Mike MaRous of MaRous and Company and engineer Jay Whetmore of Westwood Professional Services. The experts joined via phone conferencing. Jeff Newcome director of project management and Senior Advisor of APEX and Logan County Zoning Officer Would D’Andrea were also available to answer questions.

ZBA members present were Cheryl Baker, Bret Farmer, John Fulton, Judi Graff, Derek Martin and Chairman Doug Thompson. Scott Noltensmeier was absent.

Though this is the first solar farm Barry has represented in Logan County, Barry has represented wind farm projects in the county.

Barry said Mulligan's application is for a solar energy system that would generate up to 70 megawatts (“MW”) across 874 acres of participating parcels. The Project would interconnect to the existing Ameren Fogarty 138 kV substation, which is located northeast of the town of Broadwell. The interconnection facilities, or “Project Substation,” would be located with the Fogarty substation on an adjacent parcel.

The solar farm would be located in central Logan County approximately three miles south of Lincoln, roughly bounded by 1300th Street to the north, Salt Creek to the east, 1100th street to the south, and 800th Avenue to the west in Broadwell Township. All property within the project boundary is zoned Agricultural and on property classified as either Farmland or Farmland - Buildings.

Mulligan Solar, LLC is owned by Apex Clean Energy, LLC, an independent renewable energy company based in Charlottesville, Virginia, focused on building utility-scale generation facilities. Apex was founded in 2009, by Greenlight Energy Resources Inc. (GER), a company formed in 2006 to invest in the renewable energy sector. GER’s founder has created five companies in the wind, solar, wave, and biofuel energy sectors, including Greenlight Energy and Axio Power. Since then, Apex has become one of the leading renewable development companies in the industry.

Apex has completed construction of 13 wind and solar facilities for a total of nearly three gigawatts of new renewable generation. These projects represent total capital investment of more than $7 billion. Apex also completed development of the Sugar Creek Wind Project, currently under construction in Logan County in collaboration with American Wind Energy Management. Operating assets under management have grown to 1.6 GW.

Barry said the application is submitted in accordance with Appendix F: Solar Farms and Solar Gardens of the Logan County Zoning Ordinance, the purpose of which is to facilitate the construction, installation, operation, and decommissioning of solar farms and solar gardens.

Apex’s Erin Baker works strictly with renewable energies. She has worked with Sugar Creek and Hoopeston Wind Farm projects. Baker also worked on a wind and solar project in Fort Hood, Texas for the Department of Defense, which is their largest project so far.

As the supply chain and solar technology improved, costs have gone down dramatically. Baker said that makes it more competitive. The solar generation curve more closely matches the load curve utilities would be looking for. Wind is not always blowing at the time people are using electricity, and solar matches energy peaks better.

The change of land use for solar turns a property into conservation easement. Solar projects have little infrastructure aside from the pilings with the panels that would be removed at the end of their use. Baker said it is a temporary use that can help prevent urban sprawl. It effectively allows the land to rest and later be put back to its original use.

Agreements have been signed with landowners for 874 acres. Baker said because of setbacks, not all acreage would have solar panels on them.

Sometime at the beginning of next year, Baker said they expect to have a generator interconnection agreement with Ameren. At that time, construction is planned to begin and when completed would represent a nearly $100 million capital investment in Logan County.

Baker said benefits include a contribution to the local economy through property taxes and revenue to landowners. Schools could come visit the project. During construction, there would be creation of 125-200 temporary jobs with staffing by local people and one to two full time operation and maintenance jobs.

In addition, the project does not require utility infrastructure to be directed to the project.
Building permit fees for the county would be just over $200,000.

Baker said the application has been structured to ensure it complies with the county ordinance for solar. In one appendix to the application, they included a checklist of where each of the requirements can be found in the ordinance.

The project is designed to meet or exceed all setbacks. These setbacks include for non-participating residences, non-participating property lines, public right-of-ways and ordinary high-water mark of any body of water. Baker said one residence deviates from the 500-foot setback for non-participating residences because that landowner has signed a waiver.

A drainage plan is included in the application and Baker said the existing drainage of the project area would be preserved. Once the design is completed, Apex would need to get storm water permitting from the county to ensure there is no negative impact on drainage during construction or operation.

The project design would meet all sound requirements of the pollution control board. When the sun is not shining, the solar project is not operating and the inverters are not running at night, there would be no noise at night from the project. Baker said even during the day when the project is operating, the only equipment that would make noise are the inverter boxes. The inverters generate the decibels comparable to normal conversation levels.

Even if sold to a future buyer, Baker said Apex would still operate the project.

Next, each of the experts spoke.

Rick Coles of Capital Airspace spoke about his solar glare analysis. Coles has been doing solar glare analysis since 2014 and has prepared 80 glint and glare analyses. The company he works for has filed 55,000 cases with the Federal Aviation Administration. They have also done over 1,500 obstacle evaluations to help determine no hazards.

In October 2013, the FAA developed a policy to enhance safety by providing standards for measuring ocular impact of proposed solar energy systems and air traffic controllers.

Standards for a solar glare hazard analysis tool (SGHAT) have been developed by the FAA. As part of the SGHAT and working with the FAA, there should be no glare in air traffic control towers. The tool looks at inputs such as the angles of the solar array. Coles said green glare in the cockpit of aircraft and cars is allowed.

Glare is measured as green, yellow or red. Green is low or temporary, yellow is potential afterimage and not allowed anywhere and red has potential for permanent eye damage. Coles has just seen green and yellow glare and has not been able to create red glare.

Looking at Logan County Airport and three others nearby, Coles predicts no glare for any runway approach.

Barry asked if the analysis was sufficient for the FAA and whether the FAA issued a determination of no hazards.

Coles said, yes, they issued it in March, 2020.

Coles also analyzed roads near the project, looking at the north and south bound lanes on I-55. He found no glare predicted.

Coles overall analysis showed no predicted glare for runways, roads or residences.

Barry then asked if the project would comply with the Logan County Zoning Ordinance sections on aviation protection and on glare.

Coles said the project complies with both sections.

A property value impact study was done my Mike MaRous, who has a real estate appraisal firm. MaRous was awarded the MIA designation, which is the real estate appraisal designation. He has appraised over 12,000 properties and done many impact studies for wind and solar projects.

In April, MaRous published his property values market impact study for the Mulligan Solar Project that included demographics and the general character of the area.

MaRous also analyzed public safety and impacts - appearance, environmental sustainability, noise, odor, traffic, hazardous materials and public services. He compared similar areas and provided examples from Illinois and other Midwestern states - Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

MaRous concluded the project would be integrated into the fabric of the agricultural community with no negative impact on property values. The only solar study peer reviewed by experts and professors showed assessors who had solar in their towns found positive rather than negative impacts.

Engineer Jay Whetmore, an engineer for almost 40 years with fourteen solar decommissioning plans in Illinois under his belt, prepared that plan.

Financial assurance was reviewed to see that it reflects current prices and conditions. Whetmore said one challenge in reviewing finances for solar decommissioning, there is no record of solar costs. In considering finances, Whitmore looked at how to dispose of the non-recyclable parts of the project.

Whetmore looked at around 100 line items including project management, removing civil infrastructure such as access roads, and removing the aggregate path to the substation. Other items removed would be electrical infrastructure, solar panels, cables, arrays and steel foundation piles. Salvage values are also reviewed. He said when decommissioning the project, land must be restored to its pre-installation conditions.

Estimated costs would be $6.2 million and the salvage value would be $7.2 M. Whetmore said salvage costs would earn more than construction costs if the project is decommissioned in five years.

After looking at all these areas, Whetmore concluded the decommissioning plan meets all the ordinance requirements for Logan County.

After the experts finished sharing their results, Barry said he believed the application materials satisfy conditional use requirements.

ZBA members then had a few questions about some of the potential impacts.

Derek Martin asked about impacts on property values since most of the residences here would be within a mile or mile-and-a-half of the project, a closer than norm proximity. He also had questions about field tile issues, property upkeep and what would be between panel rows.

MaRous said earlier projects had more nominal setbacks than they do now. Once you get to a mile, especially with cornfields near, some arrays are not even visible.

As for upkeep, Baker said the company is contractually obligated to preserve drainage and fix tiles when needed. Barry said the Agricultural Impact Mitigation Agreement provides more protection for tiles and reroutes them around the project if needed so it would not disrupt drainage.

Baker said native grasses and vegetation would be planted under the panels.

ZBA chairman Doug Thompson asked whether the panel movement affects glare potential.

Coles said the panels point directly at the sun with 60 to 120 degrees east or west of rotation. The angle reduces the glare, and most glare would be at sunrise or sunset.

ZBA member John Fulton asked about rainfall runoff.

Newcome said runoff is minimal. They did a hydrology study of natural water flow across the area they are developing. He said glass on the panels sheds the rainfall.

Martin asked whether there is any training for EMA regarding solar farms.

Newcome said the company routinely works with local fire departments and other agencies doing training on emergency procedures before, during and after construction. The company would invite crews on site to see how the site is operated and possible hazards.

Another question was about decommissioning and recycling and whether the company could come up with financial surety if the panels become worthless.

At 90 percent resale value, Whetmore said, panels have great economic value. Materials such as aluminum and silicone can be recycled, but it is not economical to recycle the panels.

Baker said the decommissioning plan would be periodically reviewed and could be updated to address changes in market values. Whoever owns and maintains the project would be highly capitalized, so Baker said it is highly unlikely they could not cover costs. Depreciation cannot go below 30 percent of the original assessed value of the project.

The assessed value of solar is $218,000 per megawatt. Barry said if you multiply that by 70, that is a lot of assessed value for the starting point.

Thompson asked what ongoing jobs there might be once the project is completed since some solar farms are controlled remotely.

Newcome said the facility would be remotely operated, but there would be two local full-time personnel to manage the day-by-day maintenance required.

Logan County Highway Engineer Bret Aukamp asked about the access roads, where traffic would be coming from, coordination with Broadwell Township and any oversized loads they would be bringing in.

For the control house structure main power transformer, Newcome said there would be some overweight loads. The racks would be on semis and meet load requirements for delivery traffic. They would use thicker gravel to support the loads.

Once the public hearing part was completed, ZBA members discussed whether the application satisfied the conditional use requirements looking at several different areas.

One conditional use consideration is whether the establishment or maintenance of the solar farm would be detrimental to public health and safety, morale or general welfare.

Thompson said it seems environmentally friendly.

The ZBA then considered whether the use would impede the development of property or diminish property values.

Baker said not having anyone there to voice complaints seems to indicate people are okay with having the project come into their neighborhood.

Graff said she noted that setbacks meet requirements and there is no market evidence supporting negative impacts on property values.

Another consideration is whether adequate utilities, access roads, drainage and necessary facilities have been or would be provided.

For compliance, the ZBA said the company needs to work with the county highway engineer and local road districts. Road Use agreements with the county would be negotiated.

The ZBA also looked at whether adequate measure have been taken for egress and ingress points to minimize traffic congestion in public streets.

Thompson had a question whether each property has access points.

Newcome said he believes all landowners are separated by a public road and have access points from the main road.

Finally, the ZBA reviewed a list of 21 items to see if these conditions would be met. These include documentation to show compliance with electrical ratings and standards, a final drainage plan stamped by a professional engineer, an interconnection agreement and receipt of EPA NPDES Permit for Storm water control and Storm water Pollution Prevention Plan.

The applicant would need to provide documentation showing panels and fencing comply with required setbacks. To show authorizations, additional documentation would be needed from the FAA, professional engineers, IDOT and the railroads, property owners, a Tetra Tech Survey and an Illinois State Historic Preservation Office letter. In addition, financial resources would need to be posted.

The County Board approval of drainage tile and repair plan, and the decommissioning plan would be needed.

Township Access Permit and Right-of-Way Permit for access roads and utility crossings must be signed by the Township Road Commissioner and signed and recorded copies of all Road Use Agreements submitted.

If applicable, township road commissioner and county engineer approval of roadway plans for all affected roadways, along with appropriate easements from property owners where the roadway improvements would occur outside of the existing public right-of-way, would need to be received.

Posting of financial assurance for roadway plans and improvement may be needed.

Construction activity shall be limited to the hours from sunrise to sunset.

If building permits for the project have not been issued within five (5) years of the date of Conditional Use approval, the approval shall expire and a new Conditional Use application would be required.

The applicant shall repair any existing waterways, important for farm drainage and soil erosion control, that might be damaged during the construction or maintenance of the project and avoid adversely affecting compliance with existing State and Federal contracts that might apply to those waterways.

D'Andrea said these conditions would need to be met before final approval of the conditional use permit.

ZBA member Cheryl Baker then motioned to approve the solar project with the conditions listed.

The solar project was approved 5-1.

Baker, Farmer, Fulton, Graff and Thompson voted yes.

Martin voted no.

Their recommendation would be brought forward at the Logan County Board Workshop on Thursday, June 11.

[Angela Reiners]