Proposed Ellis County solar facility's permit, contribution agreement approved

By TONY GUERRERO and CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Ellis County residents voiced their opinions on the proposed Tallgrass Solar Development and its potential long-term impact on the community at the Ellis County Commission meeting on Tuesday.

The Ellis County Commission approved a conditional-use permit and contribution agreement Tuesday. Although no one spoke at the last county commission meeting about this project, previous meetings had been packed with people for and against the project.

The proposed solar project by ibV Energy Partners would cover about 1,800 acres west of Mount Pleasant and Yocemento Road. About 20 attendees at Tuesday's meeting were given three minutes each to speak.

Keith Pfannenstiel, a neighbor to the project, said three minutes was not enough time to cover all of his objections and concerns and provided commissioners with copies of his written response.

In that letter from his attorney, which was also submitted to the Hays Post, Pfannenstiel said he and his wife had submitted an open records request to the county for records pertaining to the solar facility. They were told they would have to pay for the records, according to the letter.

Pfannenstiel's attorney argued in the letter that the fees requested were too burdensome.

The letter urged the county to delay a vote until the records were produced and could be reviewed by the public.

The letter also objected to the fact that certain agreements, including the road use agreements, emergency response plans and decommissioning agreement have yet to be completed.

Several agreements remain unfinished because the project is still in the early stages of development, according to the developers.

Pfannenstiel also raised other concerns in his letter, including the aesthic effects on his property, watershed issues and pipeline safety in the area.

Pfannenstiel also spoke against the project during earlier county commission meetings.

Attendee Mike Werth raised questions about whether additional land could be added under the current conditional-use permit approval. He also asked whether battery storage could be added later and raised concerns about potential impacts to oil pipelines, saltwater disposal lines and rural water lines.

Steven Link, ibV senior project developer, said the project is capped at 175 megawatts and cannot exceed that capacity. He said any expansion onto additional land would require a separate conditional-use permit application and public notice process.

Link also said ibV has no plans to add battery storage. He said geotechnical analysis has been done, and that determined the project would not affect nearby pipelines.

He said if the company were to go out of business, the company would still be responsible for keeping production going. The company has a power purchase agreement, with and anticipated lifespan of the facility of 35 years, Link said.

Grow Hays Executive Director Doug Williams said while he is not qualified to weigh in on some technical aspects of the project, he is qualified to discuss its economic impact.

"The money they would pay in a [payment in lieu of taxes] each year equates to about 440 homes at Hays valuation. What the property taxes 440 homes would pay to the county and school district is significant," he said.

Williams compared the project to the economic impact generated by recent USD 489 construction projects.

"People who come here, do the work, they rent rooms, apartments or have hotel rooms, they have meals and they buy things. It's a big impact," Williams said. "Projects like this build the tax base, which means that we spread that burden. Purely from an economic standpoint, this is a no-brainer."

The contribution agreement was created and offered by ibV to pay the county in the first 10 years of the project once the facility begins selling power or putting power onto the grid, County Administrator Darin Myers. said. The projected first-year payment is about $1.1 million, or roughly $6,300 per megawatt, with payments increasing 1% annually.

The total revenue to the county is projected to be about $11.5 million.

Amy Befort, a landowner leasing property to ibV, said she and her husband have owned the land since 2009, and that it entitles them to private property rights.

"Some might argue that our land is not suitable to change the zoning use for renewable energy project," she said.

"However, that argument would have very little merit as our land is already energy producing in the form of oil production. In addition, multiple parcels of land surrounding our land is energy producing in the form of oil production."

Befort said renewable energy would provide another source of energy production in an area already producing energy through oil production. She also highlighted the financial benefits the project could bring to Ellis County.

"There's been a lot of talk about next year's budget, regarding how difficult it is to run the county without raising property taxes again due to ever-increasing costs to operate the county," Befort said. "The Tallgrass Solar project is a prefect source of tax revenue other than raising property taxes."

Befort asked those attending the meeting who supported the project to stand up, to which about 15 people rose.

The commission unanimously approved the conditional-use permit and contribution agreement.

Commissioner Michael Berges said he views the conditional-use permit as an agreement between a private developer and private landowners. He said county zoning regulations do not prevent property owners from entering lease agreements with a company or another individual.

Commissioner Nathan Leiker said he agreed with Berges and emphasized input from neighbors was important throughout the process because it resulted in adjustments to the project.

Commission Chairman Neal Younger said solar development is becoming increasingly common and also agreed it can provide benefits to Ellis County.

"We've already utilized one of our free things in the world, which is wind, might as well utilize the sun also," he said.