Rock County and developers of the future Elk Creek Solar Farm near Magnolia signed a development agreement Sept. 7.
Commissioners were the last entities to sign on to the agreement for the 700-acre solar farm located between Vienna and Magnolia townships.
Officials of both townships reviewed the document that stipulates various responsibilities, specifically the use and maintenance of county and township roads for the upcoming project.
Both townships agreed to have the county as the authority on the final agreement.
National Grid Renewables will build and operate the 80-megawatt solar farm and discussed the agreement with commissioners via Zoom.
Jordan Burmeister is project manager for Elk Creek Solar and outlined the construction timeline.
“We are still working through some final items on the transmission-interconnection front,” he said.
“We’ll finalize those items over the next few months.”
He estimated work will begin in spring of 2022, with completion by the end of the year. The farm is scheduled to be online in early 2023.
Late last year the project received the necessary site permit and certificate of need from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. Estimated cost of the project is $118 million.
The commissioners voted 3-0 to accept the agreement. Commissioner Gary Overgaard abstained from voting as a landowner involved in the project. Commissioner Jody Reisch was unavailable for the vote.