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The site layout of the Telios solar farm. It is planned to be west of Farm Road 269 south and runs along County Road 2310. A small section at County Road 2310 and 3351 was removed by Telios President Shannon McCall after property owner complaints. -
A display detailing the solar farm project. If the county and school district applications move forward quickly enough, the solar farm could be operational by June 2021. -
A display detailing the differences in taxes paid to the county and to the district if the solar farm were to be built. Telios would also make $75,000 supplemental payments to the district for 10 years.
Energy
The Hopkins County Commissioners Court held a work session Tuesday night for the Pine Forest community to receive information and give their input on a planned solar farm in their area.
Telios is engineering the solar farm, and general counsel Ty Gomez said the company’s goal during the meeting is “to work with the community.”
“We want this to be a positive thing,” he added.
Some resident expressed concerns, however. Toddy Vander Broek, whose property is near the land chosen for the solar farm, said that land had been “groomed for grass and hay property all this time” and worried about the agricultural effects a smaller supply of forage would have on the area.
According to the USDA 2017 Ag Census, 99,424 acres are used for forage or hay. According to Greencoast, anywhere from 4 to 5 acres are used to produce one megawatt (MW), and with the solar farm planned to be 299.25 megawatts, it could be estimated to be over 1,000 acres. The exact number of acres was not shown on Telios displays at the meeting.
Vander Broek also pointed to a worry that the properties near the solar farm could perhaps lose their agricultural tax exemption.
“That takes your taxes back up,” she said.
Jordan Christman, the property tax incentive coordinator with financial firm KE Andrews for the project, said there would be no effect of that nature on nearby properties.
Teresa Bain, another resident whose property borders the solar farm, expressed concern about potential environmental impacts the solar farm could have, something that Vänder Broek shared.
“What does it do to the ground?” Bain asked.
“We don’t know the environmental effects of it still,” Vander Broek said.
Gomez said he was not aware of any environmental impacts, and Christman said, “Solar has a minimal impact on the environment.”
“The brush will be cleared when the panels are put up,” Christman said. “That’s really it besides very basic site prep. You don’t have chemicals or things leeching into the ground.”
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, solar energy could have positive effects on the environment by replacing other energy sources impacting the environment, and “clearing land for construction and the placement of the power plant may have long-term effects on the habitats of native plants and animals.”
A small section of the solar farm was promised to be removed by Telios President Shannon McCall after multiple property owners complained.
The work session is a step toward an application for tax incentives with the county, according to Christman.
Como-Pickton Independent School District has already accepted the application from Telios for a cap on taxable value. This does not mean the tax incentive has been given, however.
If accepted by both county and the ISD, Solar farm construction would begin in April 2020, and it would be fully operational by June 2021. Three hundred jobs would be created during the construction, and two full-time maintenance jobs would be permanent, according to Telios.