A $5-million community solar farm is being proposed off of U.S. 51 on the southside of Wamac.
Kiersten Sheets of Prejectory Energy brought the project before the Marion County Board’s Community Relations Committee Tuesday night.
“It is about 23 acres. It’s two megawatts. It’s off of Old 51 south of Wamac,” Sheets told the committee.
Sheets says Ameren customers will be able to benefit.
“Community solar means that it can take subscribers and share a discount for Ameren rate payers. If you’re on an Ameren Illinois bill, you pay an Ameren Illinois bill. You can be a subscriber to community solar and get a discount on your utility bill. I myself subscribe to community solar, and I save about 250 dollars a year off of my electric bill, and it’s free.”
In addition, Prejectory Energy has to assist a non-profit organization. They have selected One Hope United and will make a $25,000 payment to them as part of their community involvement.
Sheets says the project will produce $11,500 a year in property tax revenue, ten times what the vacant field currently produces.
Board Chair Steve Whritenour agreed to sign a tentative approval to allow the company to arrange financing. Final approval will follow a review of the project by the county’s consultant.
Whritenour emphasizes without zoning, the county board cannot control location of the solar farms and state law prohibits all counties from outright rejecting a proposal. He notes while the county solar and wind ordinance allows public hearings they are not doing them because the projects are required to move forward regardless.
Sheets told the committee they are not yet ready for the engineering review as the project is only about 10-percent complete and won’t move forward until financing is in place.
