A proposed Railroad Township solar farm drew a large and somewhat skeptical crowd to an informational meeting Wednesday. NextEra Energy Resources is looking to build a 144-megawatt second phase of the Dunns Bridge Solar Project in Railroad Township.
Zachary Melda with NextEra says the main factors in choosing a site are finding counties that have ordinances allowing solar developments and landowners willing to host them. “This area is great because there’s a lot of transmission already in the area,” Melda said, “and we’re able to generate power here by a clean renewable source and put that up to an existing power grid, which already has a great demand.”
That would mean opportunities for utility company NIPSCO, according to public affairs and economic development manager Denise Conlon. “This means we move forward with our portfolio to go to the renewables,” she said, “and this is one project of many that we will be doing over the next several years.”
But the solar farm also drew a number of concerns from residents, including whether the project’s footprint might grow before it’s complete. “And it’s going to go so fast that we’re going to not know it, and then next thing you know, we’re consumed,” one resident said. “And then this tiny little part of nowhere where we all moved because we loved what we saw is going to be gone to us, and that is unfair.”
Starke County Council President Dave Pearman told those in attendance that county officials are looking at setting limits. “So one of the things we’re looking at right now is we’re trying to figure out what would be a comfortable percentage of the amount of ground,” Pearman said. “Even if all three projects that are being looked at in Starke County were to be funded and up and running and live, we’re talking less than five percent of the total property in the county.”
Another big concern residents voiced to the county officials in attendance was that they’d take the revenues from the solar development and spend them on the other side of the county. NextEra estimates that the project would generate $15 to $20 million in additional tax revenue over a 20-year period.
Residents also wanted a chance to weigh in on the project before it gets final approval, but Pearman noted that the county doesn’t have a lot of control unless a property needs to be rezoned. That differs somewhat from neighboring Pulaski County, where any commercial solar project has to have a public hearing before the board of zoning appeals. But Pearman did express interest in holding a more formal town hall meeting with the solar developers interested in working in Starke County.
If the Railroad Township portion of the Dunns Bridge project moves forward, construction could start in the fall of 2022, with the solar farm beginning operations in 2023.
