A proposed solar farm in Mills County, Iowa, has received unanimous approval from the county zoning board and could soon cover more than 3,200 acres near the Missouri River and west of I-29.
Tom Green, a local farmer whose family farms 400 acres in the area, said he hopes most of his land will become part of the Folsom Lake Solar Project
"We're getting (crop) prices that we got in the 1950s," he said. "Everybody else's money goes up, farmers' (crop) prices go down, and the machinery (cost) goes up," Green said.
Green said he first heard from the Orion Renewable Energy Group four or five years ago.
"It's running about $1,200 an acre," Green said. "It's a very good deal. Right now, with the farming and the tariffs and things like that, we're hardly making enough to pay taxes."
The solar farm is expected to generate 800 megawatts of energy annually, enough to power an average of 144,000 Iowa homes, according to Sazzy Gourley, senior project development manager for Orion Renewable Energy Group.
"There's a lot of need for new power generation in the area. So the scale of our project is designed to meet that need," said Gourley.
He said the destination of the energy is not yet finalized.
"There's still several other permits that we need before we can start construction. But prior to pulling building permits, that information about offtake will be public," Gourley said.
Over its 35-year lifespan, the solar farm is projected to contribute $36 million in tax revenue to the local economy, along with millions more through grant contributions distributed by the Community Foundation for Western Iowa, Gourley said.
Gourley said the project would add 10-15 jobs for operation and hundreds during construction.
Rick Frost, another local farmer, is also on board.
Gourley said any uninvolved homes within a third of a mile of the project will receive direct payments.
"Our soil quality here is much less in many parts of Iowa," Frost said. "It's good for the soil to give it a rest… I'll be able to retire someday. And the land will be in a profitable state. So I can pass on to my children."
The developer hopes to begin construction in early 2028, pending additional approvals, and complete the project the same year.
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