After months of research and continued discussions, the Sherburne County Board of Commissioners Tuesday approved interim use permits (IUPs) for three different solar farms.
The process included amending the county’s zoning ordinance last September to allow solar farms, trying to establish conditions like setbacks from neighboring properties, the height of a privacy fence and other types of screening materials.
The issue was still under debate at a workshop last week when Zoning Administrator Nancy Riddle and Assistant County Attorney Tim Sime met with the commissioners to decide how much money the county would need to insure proper decommissioning of a solar farm site when it eventually closed.
Tuesday, the board agreed on $25,000 per megawatt (MW), which is what has been done in Chisago County. It is also an average estimate of what a few solar companies have said it would cost for decommissioning.
“This is not only consistent with Chisago, it happens to be the median amount,” said Sime.
The other issue was how much the county should collect up front and how much could be covered by a letter of credit (LC). With two 20MW solar farms and one 5MW system, the escrow amount would be significant.
The board agreed with zoning staff’s proposal for 25% cash up-front, with another 8.33% in cash over each of the first three years until there was 50% of the cost in escrow.
A 20MW system would require a total of $500,000 for decommissioning. According to the county’s proposal, $125,000 would be collected up-front. Another $41,665 would be collected each of the first three years. An LC for the remaining $250,000 would be issued for year four through the end of service life of the solar farm.
Once the board agreed on that payment proposal, they approved IUPs for three solar farms.
The first was a 20MW system by SEV MN 1 LLC on the Thomas Hammer property on 241 acres in Clear Lake Twp.
The second was a 5MW system by SOCORE Energy on the James and Eileen Hegge Property on 40.15 acres in Clear Lake Twp.
The third was a 20MW system by SEV MN 1 LLC on the Jeffrey and James Sanford property in Big Lake Twp.
Other Business
In other action the board:
• Re-appointed Jared Johnson to the Sherburne County EDA for a six-yar term;
• Approved a gambling application for exempt permit for North East Sherburne Fire & Rescue for a raffle at Ridgewood Bay Resort in Baldwin Twp. Aug. 27;
• Approved a gambling permit to conduct excluded Bingo for Travelers Country Club for May 28, June 25, July 30, Aug. 27 and Aug. 29, 2016;
• Approved an alcohol consumption and display permit for Del-Tone/Luth Gun Club in Haven Twp.;
• Approved a $138,449 Adult Mental Health Grant from the MN Dept. of Human Services to support adults with serious and persistent mental illness
