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State fields questions about solar at hearing

Subhead
Information will be used to process of permitting Magnolia Elk Creek Solar LLC
Lead Summary
By
Mavis Fodness

Several questions arose during a Jan. 13 public meeting about the proposed Elk Creek Solar Project near Magnolia.
Representatives from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and Minnesota Commerce Department conducted the meeting at Grand Prairie Events in Luverne.
Questions raised by residents at the meeting and possible answers may be included in the required state environmental assessment report.
“Nobody knows your neighborhood like you do,” said Michael Kaluzniak, an energy facilities planner with the PUC.
The report is the first step in Geronimo Energy’s request for a certificate of need and site permit for the proposed 976-acre solar farm in Vienna Township.
Kaluzniak outlined the almost yearlong process each renewable energy project must complete in Minnesota.
Geronimo Energy filed the application for the proposed solar farm in September with the PUC accepting the application as complete in December.
The Jan. 13 public meeting followed to encourage local input in the process.
Twenty-two people attended the meeting with three people asking questions that were recorded by a court reporter.
Commerce department officials will later answer those questions and include them in the completed environmental assessment report.
Seven topics help PUC commissioners balance project requirements and public needs before determining whether a project may go forward.
For the certificate of need to be approved, a project must:
•meet future adequacy, reliability or efficiency of energy supply;
•be compatible with protecting human health and the natural and socioeconomic environments;
•examine reasonable and prudent alternatives;
•and compare relative policies, rules and regulations of other local, state and federal governments.
Site permit considerations are whether the project:
•conserves resources and minimizes environmental impacts;
•minimizes human settlement and other land use conflicts; and
•ensures an efficient, cost-effective and secure power supply and electric transmission infrastructure.
Melissa Schmidt from Geronimo Energy spoke about the 80 MW solar energy facility.
She talked about the number of jobs the project will create (four full-time), production tax revenue generated ($4.5 million over 25 years), how the facility harvests the sun to make electricity and planned access roads and fences that will surround the initial 976-acre Elk Creek Solar Project.
Another project, Elk Creek II, is planned but Geronimo Energy has no immediate plans for a construction permit.
Bill Storm with the state Commerce Department will complete the environmental report.
He said the report contains the most relevant information to the proposed solar project.
Input from the public is important in the report process.
“We need local knowledge,” Storm said. “If you know there is something at that site or something that is valued, I need to include this in the report.”
Questions included:
•How efficient is the solar panels in creating electrical power?
•Why would a company put a solar energy facility in Minnesota? Why not Arizona?
•Is it effective use of money to build a renewable energy facility that relies on the more conventional carbon-based energy generators as a backup?
•Why not create a more inclusive vegetation and wildlife management plan for more than just butterflies?
•Does a decommissioning plan involve all equipment components being recycled and not disposed of in community landfills?
•Where does the construction funding come from? Are overseas interests included?
The written comment period closes 4 p.m. Jan. 28.
Charley Bruce is a public advisor with the PUC and assists the public in understanding and participating in the environmental assessment process. He can be reached at 651-201-2251 or publicadvisor.puc@state.mn.us.
Elk Creek Solar Project’s environmental assessment report is expected to be complete in April.
A public hearing date will follow the release of the report.
The hearing conducted by an administrative law judge will occur before the judge files a separate report on the Elk Creek project.
The PUC will formerly consider the certification of need and site permit requests this fall.
If permitted, the Elk Creek Solar Project will be operational in 2021.

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