Linn County Supervisors to decide Palo solar project this month

The two solar projects intended for construction near Palo could move another step closer to reality next week as Linn County Supervisors meet for a series of readings.

The supervisors’ sessions are scheduled for the Palo Community Center, 2800 Hollenbeck Rd., beginning at 6 p.m. Monday. If the first reading passes, meetings will follow on Wednesday and the next Monday, Aug. 29, both also at 6 p.m.

What’s at stake?

Supervisors will vote on whether to change the zoning in the area of the projects — both by NextEra and named Duane Arnold Solar I and Duane Arnold Solar II — from agricultural to agricultural with a solar overlay, allowing for the installations to be built.

The Duane Arnold Solar I project proposes to use 316 acres of an 857-acre area for photovoltaic solar arrays capable of generating up to 50 megawatts of energy.

The Duane Arnold Solar II project would use 815 acres of a 1,780-acre area for solar arrays capable of generating up to 150 megawatts. It also would include a 75-MW, four-hour battery energy storage facility.

The battery energy storage system will have about 96 20-by- 8-foot containers that would house 7,040 lithium-ion battery modules.

Florida-based NextEra, which has operated in Iowa since 1999 and has 12 wind farms in the state, said it plans to invest $800 million in the solar projects, including $50 million paid to landowners for voluntary easements over the projects’ 30-year life span.

They would be the company’s first solar projects in Iowa.

While NextEra will develop the projects, Alliant Energy filed a proposal with the Iowa Utilities Board to buy the solar installations from NextEra and further develop them into the state’s largest solar and battery storage facilities, if that plan receives approval.

Project Director Kimberly Dickey previously said the site was chosen because of its proximity to the former Duane Arnold nuclear plant, also owned by NextEra, that has been closed since the 2020 derecho.

NextEra plans to have its Palo projects operational by December 2024. The estimated start of construction would be first quarter of 2023.

What’s Happened So Far?

Earlier this year, supervisors voted 2-1 to approve a 640-acre solar project near Coggon from developer Clenera. That project, smaller than NextEra’s Palo projects, is on hold while a court resolves a case brought against the supervisors by a family who lives near the site.

While Linn County’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6-1 to recommend denial of the Coggon project, the commission voted to recommend approval of the much larger Palo projects 4-3.

Linn County Planning and Development Director Charlie Nichols said county staff also recommended approval of the project with the county’s current stipulations.

Those include a 300-foot setback from non-participating landowners. Nichols said there are 11 non-participating property owners within 1,000 feet of planned solar panels, and seven within 500 feet of panels.

The Palo solar projects application was submitted in February. It includes site plans as well as plans for decommissioning, economic and land-use analysis, vegetation management, agricultural impact mitigation, setback analysis and screening, along with other documents.

The overall project is estimated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 9.49 million metric tons per year.

The Iowa Utilities Board issued an order this summer granting electric generating certificates for the Duane Arnold Solar projects, pending county supervisor approval.

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