Grundy County board approves one solar farm extension, denies two

The Grundy County Board took the advice of the Land Use committee on Tuesday night when it approved an extension for the Greenbacker Renewable Energy solar farm project located south of Dupont Road between Buffalo and Verona.

The board continued heeding the Land Use committee’s advice in rejecting an extension to two One Energy solar projects, a 39 acre, four megawatt solar project on the corner of Buffalo and Dupont Roads and a 40.3 acre, four megawatt solar form east of Kinsman and north of Grand Ridge.

The Greenbacker Renewable Energy project passed because it’s already around 65% of the way through the engineering process, according to Land Use Director Heidi Miller.

“The information that I received form Greenbacker is that this project should be developed starting the first quarter of 2024, and the land use committee, the the exception of one vote, voted to pass or recommend this,” Miller said.

It almost didn’t pass, however. The board initially had a motion and a second to deny the extension from Doug Boresi and Josh Harris, although Harris rescinded his motion after hearing an explanation why it’d be better for the board to approve the extension. It wasn’t clear at first whether or not the Land Use committee approved the project.

Miller explained why this project should be approved.

“They’ve done 65% of the engineering and that includes stormwater for the site and engineering that’s done for the permit for the plants that I review,” Miller said. “They felt it’s very possible this solar farm could be constructed in the first quarter of 2024. Therefore, they felt the extension would be something that would be reasonable.”

Jerald White, who serves on the Land Use committee, said the organization has done its due diligence and everything that’s been asked of them.

Doug Ferro asked if this is denied, if they would have the same legal basis as Buffalo Solar, a company that was denied and currently has a case against Grundy County because of a rejection.

“They’re not exactly similarly situated,” said State’s Attorney Russ Baker. “But there’s no articulate reasons to vote this one down. They’ve done their due diligence and hit their benchmarks. They’ve controlled everything they can control, and the things that have pushed deadlines back are things beyond their control.”

This project was initially approved in 2018.

Ferro asked that if this solar farm is in Norman Township, why aren’t the same residents from Norman Township typically concerned with solar farms at the meeting for this one. Concerned residents from Norman Township typically show up to Grundy County Board meetings to object to more solar farms, as it’s been called both an eyesore and a misuse of good soil.

Miller said these residents were notified back in 2018 when the project was approved, and it’s not a requirement to send out a notification for an extension.