Linn County to host meetings on utility-scale solar-project permitting process

Linn County is holding public meetings on upcoming utility-scale solar projects in the coming weeks as two companies seek to build solar farms in the county.

The first of two meetings takes place at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Palo Community Center, 2800 Hollenbeck Rd. in Palo.

The second meeting will be at 6 p.m. June 2 at the Linn County Fairgrounds, 201 Central City Rd. in Central City.

At the meetings, Linn County planning and development staff will give a presentation about the solar-permitting process. There also will be time for public comment. The presentation will be the same at both meetings.

The meetings “are specific to Linn County’s role in the permitting process and are not specific to any proposed solar project in Linn County,” a Monday news release said.

Residents will be able to attend either meeting in person or virtually.

Though the county meetings are not specific to any solar project in the county, according to the news release, it’s been previously reported that NextEra Energy of Florida is hoping to transform the former Duane Arnold Energy Center into a solar farm.

The solar farm is planned across 3,500 acres at and near the now-decommissioned nuclear plant in Palo, project manager Kimberly Dickey previously told The Gazette.

The solar farm could bring in a $700 million capital investment and about 300 construction jobs, Dickey said.

The solar project also could create about $41.6 million in tax revenue and result in $50 million in payments to the landowners where it is built, according to Dickey and the NextEra website.

Another solar farm could be built near Coggon as well, according to Kerry Koonce, Central Iowa Power Cooperative’s manager of external affairs.

Koonce previously told The Gazette that Boise, Idaho-based Clenera plans to construct a facility and sell power to CIPCO through a 25-year power-purchase agreement.

Comments: (319) 398-8255; gage.miskimen@thegazette.com