Commissioners table solar farm plans for at least a month
Aimee Ambrose, Goshen News, Ind.
Tue, August 17, 2021, 11:15 AM·2 min read
Aug. 17—GOSHEN — A decision on whether to allow plans for a large solar energy farm to move forward near Millersburg will hang in the air for about a month or so.
Following approximately three hours of discussion on the issue Monday, the Elkhart County Commissioners decided to table a vote on the proposed project to allow for more consideration and to wait for an agreement to be worked out that would govern the end of the project’s run.
“This is too big a decision to not have all their ducks in a row,” Commissioner Frank Lucchese said at the end of the meeting.
The proposal’s a zoning request for a development plan, in which Kansas City-based Savion would install solar panel arrays within about 850 acres of agricultural land south of Millersburg. The company has an agreement with two sets of property owners to lease land around Ind. 13, C.R. 146, C.R. 148 and C.R. 43.
Savion expects to invest $120 million in the project, with plans to generate up to 150 megawatts of energy through the panels. The sites were selected due to their proximity to transmission lines owned by American Electric Power, with the production set to pool into the electrical grid owned by PJM. The project’s development director, Sara Mills, said the energy produced would be used in Elkhart County first.
