Rock River Valley awaits solar lottery results to learn where panels will go

By Susan Vela
Staff writer

Posted Feb 12, 2019 at 5:54 PMUpdated Feb 12, 2019 at 7:53 PM

BELVIDERE — The Boone County Board has approved at least 15 solar farm proposals, but a lottery could decide which are built.

Similar situations are playing out across the region and state because of the Future Energy Jobs Act, a state law that went into effect June 2017. It demands Illinois utilities get 25 percent of their retail power from renewable sources such as solar and wind by 2025.

An unexpected consequence was how many companies jumped to build. So far, Stephenson County has approved approximately 40 special-use permits for the companies submitting proposals; Ogle County, about 5; Winnebago County, nearly 10; and Rockford, about 5.

Since there isn’t enough tax money to go around, a lottery will decide who gets the tax incentives and, essentially, where solar farms get built.

“This lottery is going to limit how many projects get approved,” Boone County Administrator Ken Terrinoni said.

In Boone County, developers that include Borrego Solar Systems Inc., Hendricks Solar LLC and Terra Navigatoralready have received special-use permits, which means they are set to meet the lottery’s Wednesday deadline.

The Illinois Power Agency will review their proposals and then choose the lottery winners by April.

Power Agency Director Anthony Star said a lottery was needed because there have been more solar proposals getting approved than anticipated. To provide tax incentives to all, the state would need five times the dollar amount it expects to have available for such projects.

Solar developers are expected to pay close attention to the lottery, since winners will move one step closer to breaking ground on their projects.

Alexander Farkes, Borrego’s project development director, said the upcoming lottery “is one of the key criteria for having a viable community solar project in Illinois.”

He’s concerned about the randomness of a lottery.

″(But) I think the state went through a lot of time putting together the process,” Farkes said. “What we’re most interested in is the most viable projects getting selected. We’re really looking forward to the future of Illinois and what’s going to happen next.”

Boone County projects that have received approval range from 12 to 200 acres. The largest is a 200-acre, $36.4 million proposal at Genoa and Reeds Crossing roads. Board members approved Hendricks Solar’s request for a special-use permit Oct. 17.

Chairman Karl Johnson is looking forward to the lottery determining which projects get built. Until then, the board keeps having to review every proposal that gets placed before them.

“That’s the biggest frustration for me,” he said. “We’ve spent a lot of man hours on solar farm issues. It’s a waste of taxpayer dollars to continue to do this work over and over.”

Susan Vela: 815-987-1392; svela@rrstar.com; @susanvela

Above is from:  https://www.rrstar.com/news/20190212/rock-river-valley-awaits-solar-lottery-results-to-learn-where-panels-will-go