About the Acciona USA solar project
According to Barton County Environmental Manager Judy Goreham, Acciona USA’s solar panels will be the type that rotate to track with the sun. At their tallest, they will stand about 15 feet.
The company is looking a total of about three square miles for the solar farm. There would be enough room between the rows of panels to allow trucks to pass through for maintenance.
Acciona Energy is based in Mardrid, Spain. The American subsidiary, Acciona USA, is based in Chicago, Ill.
They have developed solar and wind energy projects around the world, with oveer 2,000 assests across the United States.
With many dangling details remaining, issues surrounding a planned solar farm in central Barton County were the topic of a County Commission study session Wednesday morning. All county officials know for sure is that developer Acciona Energy USA will soon seek zoning permits for the project and hope to be well into construction within six months.
Acciona is looking at a massive swath of central Barton County that touches Great Bend and Cheyenne Bottom, and includes Barton Community College. While they won’t utilize all of it, the company has leased about 25,000 acres in an area framed by NE 10 Avenue on the west, just north of NE 50 Road on the north, just east of NE 80 Avenue on the east and U.S. 56 on the south.
“At this point, we don’t know the exact location, we just know the general vicinity,” Barton County Environmental Manager Judy Goreham said. Of the ground under lease, Acciona will likely use about three square miles, either as one unit or in multiple sites.
“That’s all we know,” she said. She’s had discussions with County Administrator Matt Patzner, County Counselor Patrick Hoffman and County Engineer Barry McManaman, and the project came up when the Barton County Planning Commission met Tuesday.
“Whenever we get the actual sites, we want separate applications,” she said. This is not unusual.
However, “what we are not positive about is what to do if we have a clustered area that is partly in Barton County’s jurisdiction and partly in the City of Great Bend’s jurisdiction,” she said. “I don’t know what to do about that. It’s never happened before.”
The city has zoning authority within a three-mile extraterritorial zoning area that extends beyond the city limits.
If this is an issue, they will have to scramble and meet with city officials, Goreham said. Since they are separate governmental entities with separate zoning regulations and requirements, each will have to hold its own public hearing.
“Other than that, I think it’s pretty simple,” she said. With separate applications for each site (if this is applicable) “we will have a clean way to take care of the landowners within 1,000 feet for each location.”
Notification of the landowners within 1,000 feet is one of the requirements when scheduling a public hearing on the zoning applications.
In addition, they will invite all of the entities associated with Cheyenne Bottoms, such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, the Nature Conservancy and the Audubon Society. “We are going to request their comments and feedback as part of it.”
This is needed due to the project’s proximity to the wetland and the miles-wide Central Flyway, which cuts across the county. “This company has never worked with a fly zone or a wetland, and we just want to make sure we cover that,” she said, noting this is a bit of a concern for her.
It is entirely possible it won’t conflict with these, but Goreham said they want to include them just in case.
Nonetheless, when Goreham contacts Acciona, she will let them know they have to submit separate applications for separate sites. And, “I will simply say that if one of your locations crosses Barton county as well as the three-mile area, we will determine the process at that time. I’m not going to put down in writing what we’re going to do.”
She has met with company officials in the past. They attended a recent commission study session.
