The Warren County Commissioners received updates on the Split-Rail Solar District while meeting with company representatives Oct. 9.
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The Warren County Commissioners received updates on the Split-Rail Solar District while meeting with company representatives Oct. 9.
The commissioners heard from Project Manager Matt Clausen and Site Manager Luke Williams from Invenergy, who is handling the Split-Rail project along with Karl Finke of Andrews Engineering, the local engineer hired by the county to monitor solar projects.
Williams and Clausen said they are approaching the end of their construction phase and that they have 500 solar panels left to put up. Following all of the panels being put up they will then move into the testing and commissioning phase. The plan is to energize their facility from the Root Beer substation on Oct. 20 to make sure everything works.
Presiding Commissioner Joe Gildehaus asked Williams and Clausen when the solar farm would be up and running and they responded that they are shooting for a target date of July 1, 2026.
They also mentioned that at some point during the next few months they would be working to transfer the solar farm to Ameren, who will actually be the owner moving forward. The solar project will be sold to Ameren once the site is energized Oct. 20. Ameren will be the owner, but Invenergy will be involved in the project under a separate agreement with Ameren.
Finke said that work was proceeding on the landscape screening and pollinators for the project.
The proposed area for Invenergy’s solar farm is 4,435 acres, largely located between Highway A and Highway W, according to previous Record reporting. The electrical capacity of the solar farm would be rated at 300 megawatts. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, 1 megawatt is enough to power more than 100 Missouri homes.
The solar district is irregularly shaped, made of more than 30 interconnected pieces of property. “Islands” or “peninsulas” of excluded property in the district area show where either Invenergy or the property owners were uninterested in developing.
Later during the meeting, the commissioners distributed checks to various political subdivisions under the agreement with the Bluebird Solar District.
The Bluebird Solar District, being developed by DE Shaw Renewable Investments and operated by Ranger Power, sits on 1,800 acres and will generate roughly 139 megawatts of power.
The agreements between the county and Bluebird and Split-Rail exempts them from the taxes associated with their new facilities. Instead they are making payments in lieu of taxes.
Those payments will be $2,250 per megawatt of power generated by the solar districts for the next 35 years. Those payments will also increase by 2% each year of the agreement. According to this agreement, the amount comes out to $312,750 according to Gildehaus.
Thursday the following funds were distributed to political subdivisions:
Warren County Developmental Disabilities Board $8,619.93
Warren County Ambulance District $26,436.95
Warren County Fire Protection District $24,257.69 Scott?
Scenic Regional Library $10,292.12
Warren County R-III $230,844.55
Money was also distributed to county funds including:
Road and Bridge $9,499.15
General Revenue $2,799.59
