~by Victoria Riley, GCNO publisher
The Greene County board of adjustment has an opportunity to demonstrate foresight when it holds a public hearing this Thursday, July 6.
Members of the board can show they’re able to imagine a future when electric vehicles are the norm rather than a novelty, and they’ll know they played a role in diversifying land use to prepare for that time.
They’ll also know they’ve played a role in increasing county property tax revenues and decreasing carbon emissions into our environment.
The board will consider granting a conditional use permit for National Grid Renewables’ Grand Junction Solar project.
Allowing the construction of a utility-scale solar electric energy facility and battery energy storage system (BESS) would be good for farmers and good for all of us.
Grand Junction Solar, and other solar projects that could follow once NGR completes the obstacle course of being the first of something in Greene County, will provide a land use not tied to corn. Now, while people are driving ethanol-fueled vehicles, Greene County farmers have sure markets for their corn. Their corn feeds animals or it feeds engines via ethanol.
Twenty or 30 years from now, when we’re all driving electric vehicles, Greene County farmers would still be feeding animals or engines via solar-generated electricity.
The Greene County farmers who have signed lease agreements with NGR are exercising the same right to decide how to use their property as those who put CAFOs on their land. The good news is that those who lease to NGR aren’t creating odors that sometimes carry for miles and they’re not contaminating our ground water, streams and rivers.
A solar field is not on its own unsightly. It’s not a barren place of metal and glass, but a place where plants hold the soil where it belongs, where sheep can graze and bees can buzz.
It’s the fence around the solar field that neighbors object to. They aren’t concrete barriers, but fences that let butterflies and breezes continue across fields unfettered. Chances are, neighbors and those who travel the country roads will look more at what’s inside the fence than at the fence itself.
The battery energy storage system also isn’t on its own pretty. The batteries will be in structures about the size of a standard shipping container. Visit any rail yard to see how art can enhance otherwise “ugly” containers. The BESS will be fenced, so art would need to be approved, but it’s possible.
The handful of neighbors to the proposed Grand Junction Solar facility may be doubtful if the facility is good for them, but it’s easy to see that it would serve the greater good, and that’s all the rest of us.
Grand Junction Solar will create new tax revenue for Greene County because the land used by NGR will be taxed at a higher rate than if it were used for agriculture. Land that is now creating less than $39,000 per year in property taxes would produce an estimated $129,000 revenue per year. During the expected 35-year life of Grand Junction Solar, that’s $3.1 million in added tax revenues.
During the 18 months or so Grand Junction Solar would be under construction, the local economy would see a nice boost. More than 150 skilled tradespeople would be in the county, needing lodging, buying fuel and food, and probably enjoying entertainment. That means more jobs for the local people who make Casey’s pizza, serve at 30 Yard Line, clean hotel rooms, and on and on.
Solar energy stabilizes electric rates by reducing the dependence on gas or coal to generate electricity. Also, solar energy is generated during the day, which is the time of peak demand for users. Having more electricity available in the grid via solar generation can reduce what fossil fuel plants need to produce, decreasing the peak rates passed on to consumers. That can trim electric costs for all of us.
And for those among us who take climate change seriously, Grand Junction Solar is estimated to offset approximately 140,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually during operations. That’s the equivalent of taking an estimated 30,000 fuel-burning vehicles off the road every year.
It’s very likely there will be people at the board of adjustment’s public hearing calling for the board to preserve the rural neighborhood and way of life they see as threatened by the proposed utility-scale solar project. I’ll be there, and I’ll hear in their words the longing for stasis a lot of us have, that desire to remain the same.
Change, though, is inevitable. We can embrace it – we can’t keep it from occurring.
The board of adjustment is compelled to review NGR’s application for a conditional use permit and determine if it meets the county’s zoning ordinance. Board members will be doing their duty, and our county a service, when they recommend approval of the permit.
