Photo by Deb Gau Drew Christensen, of Apex Clean Energy, right,, answered questions from Lyon County commissioners about a new solar energy project planned in the area between Balaton and Garvin.

MARSHALL — A new solar project planned in southern Lyon County drew criticism and questions from county commissioners on Tuesday. While Commissioner Rick Anderson said the proposed 235-megawatt project would be unsightly for neighbors, Commissioner Gary Crowley said he had heard concerns that it would take farmland out of production.

“That’s the biggest complaint I hear about the solar,” Crowley said.

Representatives of Apex Clean Energy said they would be willing to answer commissioners’ questions and try to work together with the county.

At Tuesday’s county board meeting, representatives of Apex Clean Energy gave commissioners an update on the company’s activities in the area. Apex is seeking to build a 1,000-megawatt wind energy project in Lyon and Murray counties.

“We have over 120,000 acres under lease in Lyon and Murray counties, and that’s over 500 participating landowners in this project. So we’re really excited about the reception that we’ve gotten,” said Drew Christensen, public engagement director for Apex.

However, it was a different project by Apex — a proposed solar energy installation — that sparked the most discussion.

“We have been more recently looking at a solar project in southern Lyon County,” Christensen said. The Coneflower Solar project would be located between Balaton and Garvin, “kind of centered around the Highway 14 area,” he said.

Coneflower Solar would be around 1,600 acres, and Christensen said land had been leased with 20 landowners in the county.

“That would generate somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000 of tax revenue each year for Lyon County,” he said.

Commissioner Gary Crowley said he had heard concerns from Lyon County residents about the solar proposal.

“Basically what the concern is, is taking good farmland out of production,” Crowley said. That in turn hurts the local economy, because farmers aren’t buying seed or fertilizer, he said. “Then (the farmer) goes out and he has to bid out to try and find some more land to farm,” Crowley said.

Crowley said he thought solar developers should look at putting more solar panels on buildings, instead of agricultural land.

Anderson said he had “lost a lot of respect” for Apex, because much of the land leased for the solar project was not owned by people who live in the area.

“Ninety percent of the land that you’ve got signed up for solar, don’t live around here or live close to the brunt of it,” Anderson said. “I happen to be one of those guys who’s going to have to look at them, and they’re going to be right out my window.”

“All of this power is going into the seven-county metro (area). It’s not staying in this local area,” Anderson said. The $500,000 in annual energy production tax revenue for the county wasn’t a guaranteed figure either, he said.

“I can certainly understand the frustration,” Christensen said. “That is certainly true with the production tax on both solar and wind, it is based on production. So the numbers that we’re speaking about are what we could consider to be an average. We would expect there to be years where it would be higher, and years where it would be lower.” Apex would want to work with the county to help plan for those variable years, he said.

Christensen also emphasized that landowners who leased out their property did so voluntarily.

“I would just note that these are all voluntary agreements. These are all signed by the landowner, that they have made this decision to enter into this project,” he said.

“I would also note that this project is temporary,” Christensen said. “This is not taking farmland permanently out of production. This isn’t putting up a Walmart, this is land that is going to rest for 20 to 30 years.”

Replacing the solar panels after their lifespan of 20-30 years could be a possibility, but it would take new agreements with the landowners, Christensen said.

Lyon County Planning and Zoning Administrator John Biren asked if some of the solar panels could be placed on land that was part of a wellhead protection area instead.

“It seems from the Department of Health and the Department of Ag that a good land use on top of vulnerable well fields could be solar rather than agricultural uses, especially in the case of high nitrates and so forth,” Biren said. “Has there been any initiatives to focus on those wellhead protection areas?”

Christensen said it could be a possibility, but the location of the solar panels would depend on the availability of transmission lines nearby.

Christensen encouraged commissioners to come to Apex with questions or concerns.

“We want to work together and be good partners on this, and make sure that this is providing as much benefit as possible,” he said.