Planning underway for large solar energy project in Linn County

CEDAR RAPIDS — A utility-grade solar energy installation being planned south of Center Point would be the biggest one yet in Linn County — generating 220 megawatts — if approved by state regulators and county supervisors.

The project from NextEra Energy Resources is named Duane Arnold IV, following construction of its Duane Arnold I and II solar sites near the decommissioned Duane Arnold Energy Center the firm operated near Palo. The new site also would include up to 180 megawatts of battery energy storage, according to NextEra.

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The firm has yet to file an application for the project with the Iowa Utilities Commission or under a revamped Linn County solar ordinance. However, NextEra representatives will hold a public information session at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Hawkeye Downs Speedway and Expo Center in Cedar Rapids to discuss the project with landowners and others.

Naomi Morrison, a NextEra spokesperson, said the solar and battery storage project is estimated to begin construction next year and start operations by October 2026.

“The Duane Arnold Solar IV project will bring numerous economic benefits to the community, including the potential for millions in additional tax revenue which can be used to enhance schools, roads and essential services,” Morrison said in an email. “The project is a significant capital investment in the area and will create up to 200 construction jobs.”

The project calls for solar panels to be installed on 390 acres of the 1,460-acre site, southwest of Interstate 380 roughly between Toddville and Center Point.

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Company representatives did not answer questions about the project’s precise location.

According to a NextEra presentation, there are about 50 landowners at the project site. The firm said it hopes to sign voluntary leases for access to the land and does not contemplate asking for eminent domain authority. It said it had plans to notify by mail all landowners of record within 1,000 feet of the project’s proposed boundary.

Morrison said the company looks for locations with good solar resources — such as land availability, proximity to transmission and landowners interested in participating.

In its presentation for the project, NextEra said the operation would create one or two full-time permanent jobs and generate $7.7 million in property taxes over its lifetime.

Landowners who sign leases would do so for 30 years with an option to renew for another 10 years. NextEra said it was collecting maps of farm drainage tiles to plan the facility, and after the site is eventually decommissioned it would restore the leased land to “pre-existing conditions.”

The Linn County Board of Supervisors has yet to consider another utility-grade solar project after their original solar ordinance was shelved and then revamped in 2023. The new ordinance came after supervisors in 2022 approved three large and controversial solar arrays in the county — a 100-megawatt installation near Coggon and two related Duane Arnold projects — one for 150 megawatts and the other for 50 megawatts — near Palo.

Approvals for those projects spawned lawsuits. While the county prevailed in the Duane Arnold suit, the suit of the Coggon-area installation was on appeal this month.

Charlie Nichols, Linn County’s director of planning and development, said NextEra met May 31 with the Linn County staff for a pre-application meeting to go over requirements for the new ordinance. The ordinance sets minimum setbacks from property lines and dwellings, as well as — among other things — tries to balance solar with farming.

Nonetheless, the proposed project already is generating opposition.

A letter submitted to the Iowa Utilities Commission on July 18 said the writer is “opposed to taking even more prime farmland for intermittent, sun reliant, power.”

Another opposition letter from July 22 raised questions about the bottom line of the project. “I am VERY concerned that IA, Linn County, and our representatives are only looking at the bottom line of benefits and NOT at the environmental impacts of this so-called clean energy,” the letter stated. “Impact to natural run-off in the fields, close proximity to neighborhoods, toxic chemicals, intense heat generated by the panels, and noise level.”

NextEra declined to say it if it will involve a utility in its plans to develop Duane Arnold IV.

Alliant Energy will take over ownership of the Duane Arnold I and II projects once they are completed by NextEra. But Alliant spokesperson Morgan Hawk said the company is not involved with this Next Era project. MidAmerican Energy and the Central Iowa Power Cooperative spokespersons said they are not involved with the project, either.

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

Comments: (319) 398-8370; olivia.cohen@thegazette.com