The company seeking to build a utility-grade solar facility in Scotts Bluff County is wanting to do the same in Banner County.
During Tuesday’s Banner County Board meeting, a large group of officials with Dunlieh Energy described their plans for a facility that would be constructed on 2,000 acres in the extreme northwest corner of the county, and operated under Situla Energy Project, LLC.
Dunlieh Chief Operating Officer Kirk Hayes told the commissioners agreements have been secured with landowners, which is just the beginning of a long process. “This isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight. It’s really kind of a large team with checks and balances like I mentioned with different jurisdictions,” said Hayes. “Then, after you get over that first development phase, as you enter the construction and procurement part of the house, then usually construction can take about another year or so. Overall, you’re looking at probably a couple of years but a lot of it being the engineering prior to getting into the construction.”
The scope of the project mirrors the company’s proposed facility for southwestern Scotts Bluff County: 400 megawatts of nameplate generation capability, a 200 megawatt battery storage facility that would tie into a Western Area Power Administration transmission line at an investment cost of $886 million.
Dunlieh CEO Thaer Flieh told commissioners not only does the company want to set expectations through a development agreement with the county, but they will also reach out to nearby landowners.
“We want to be good neighbors, and we want to listen to them and understand their concerns, and work with them through this. Explain to them what we’re going to be doing, what kind of impacts the project is going to have, potentially, and we’re hoping to listen to them, hear their concerns and address their concerns,” Flieh said.
The development agreement would cover a variety of subjects of interest to county officials, including fire safety, road maintenance and a decommissioning plan with bond to ensure recycling and disposal would take place at the end of the project.
Flieh also explained the economic benefits to the area, which he said would include between 400 to 600 jobs during construction, 4-6 permanent jobs after completion, and the tax revenue that would flow into local coffers, totaling $49 million over a 35 year project lifespan. Those revenues would be generated by the state’s nameplate capacity tax, currently $3,518 per megawatt, totaling approximately $1.4 million annually. Of that amount, over $800,000 would go to Banner County Schools, and $413,000 to the county, with lesser amounts to other taxing districts.
It would be built on four parcels bounded on the west by the Wyoming state line, and on the north by the Scotts Bluff County line, that are owned by Torrington, Wyoming-based Clearview Dairy, Inc. and Darrell and Sally Steinhausen.
The solar facility would need a variety of approvals, including environmental impact studies and through an informal review by the Department of Defense. WAPA would also need to sign off on the plan and interconnection with their existing transmission facilities.
Flieh told KNEB News if approved, the project would be in addition to the solar generation facility the company still seeks to develop in Scotts Bluff County.
