The Greene County supervisors will hold a public hearing Monday at 9 am on a proposed ordinance that would set a 6-month moratorium on building utility-scale solar energy projects in the county. The agenda for that meeting includes not only the public hearing, but also consideration of the proposed ordinance and then consideration of waiving the second and third readings.
Waiving the second and third readings would allow the ordinance to go into effect after it’s posted as a public notice next week.
The ordinance would set the county’s procedures for issuing permits for commercial solar energy projects. A large project has been proposed for an area south of Grand Junction. If the ordinance is adopted, no permits would be considered before Sept. 26.
County attorney Thomas Laehn cited three issues to be considered in an ordinance and moratorium: preservation of available agricultural land, the health and welfare of county residents, and the public’s reasonable access to solar energy.
The board discussed utility-scale solar projects in comparison to energy being generated for personal use which is also sometimes sold to energy companies. The board seemed to agree a temporary moratorium would not apply to “property owners using solar panels.”
The board discussed setting the upper amount of energy produced at 10 mega-watts to be exempt from the proposed moratorium.
The 6-month moratorium would provide the State of Iowa time to develop regulations of utility-scale solar energy projects.
