Cloudy with occasional showers this afternoon. High 68F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..
Rain showers this evening with overcast skies overnight. Low near 60F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Updated: September 20, 2026 @ 5:55 am
Cloudy with occasional showers this afternoon. High 68F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..
Rain showers this evening with overcast skies overnight. Low near 60F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Updated: September 20, 2026 @ 5:55 am
County residents filled the meeting room at the Mills County Annex Building for a county board of adjustment meeting that resulted in the approval of a conditional use permit for the Folsom Lake Solar Project in northwest Mills county.
Plans call for an 800-megawatt solar project and a 900-megawatt battery storage facility, with a total project footprint of roughly 6,000 acres situated between the Missouri River and 195th Street–stretching from Bunge to Gaston Avenues.
County residents filled the meeting room at the Mills County Annex Building for a county board of adjustment meeting that resulted in the approval of a conditional use permit for the Folsom Lake Solar Project in northwest Mills county.
Plans call for an 800-megawatt solar project and a 900-megawatt battery storage facility, with a total project footprint of roughly 6,000 acres situated between the Missouri River and 195th Street–stretching from Bunge to Gaston Avenues.
(Glenwood) — Plans for a major solar energy project in western Mills County crossed its first hurdle earlier this week.
At a roughly three-hour regular meeting Tuesday evening, the Mills County Board of Adjustment unanimously approved a conditional use permit for Orion Renewable Energy Group’s proposed Folsom Lake Solar Project. Plans call for an 800-megawatt solar project and a 900-megawatt battery storage facility, with a total project footprint of roughly 6,000 acres situated between the Missouri River and 195th Street–stretching from Bunge to Gaston Avenues. The proposal also includes constructing a substation and operations building. The conditional use permit is the first step in allowing the company to construct the utility-scale solar farm on both industrially and agriculturally zoned land leased from the current landowners. Orion Project Developer Sazzy Gourley says they began meeting with prospective landowners and county officials about the project in 2021. In addition to the proposed area being in a primarily industrial area and away from concentrated population, Gourley says the project is a chance to find another use for lower-quality farmland.
“Our average CSR-2 rating is 60.51, and as a context, the Farm Bureau considers anything below 65 to be lower-quality farm ground,” said Gourley. “Many of our farmers have to use live irrigation or even cannot farm all of their ground in the bottoms. We also have a lot of interest from local farmers, many of whom are looking to retire or could use the stable rent income from our project to invest in their farming operations.”
But Gourley notes that the conditional use permit is just one of several permits they must acquire before construction, including an application to the Iowa Utilities Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration. While included in the FAA application process, Gourley says they have also had direct correspondence with Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue.
“After we reached out to them, they requested some specific materials, so we shared a project map, confirmed that we were not in the accident potential zone, and shared our glare analysis,” said Gourley. “Then we had a kickoff meeting with their team to talk about things directly and make sure we have open lines of communication. I’ll clarify that this direct coordination with Offutt is in response to the county specifically calling out Offutt in their ordinance.”
He adds that road use agreements with the county will also need approval before the company obtains any building permits, and the county will eventually approve a decommissioning plan for the project. The project proposal also includes a county-required vegetation mitigation plan. Pete Burthelsen with Conservation Blueprint assisted Orion with developing the mitigation plan. Similar to the intent behind the USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program, Burthelsen says the goal of the mitigation plan is not only to maintain soil health, but to improve it.
“One of the ways that we’re going to achieve the last benefit that I’m going to talk about is Orion has elected to use two different vegetative covers on the site,” said Burthelsen. “One within the array area that only grows to a height that is lower than the panels, and one that is a more traditional pollinator mixture that will go into the outer areas of the project where it doesn’t matter how tall it grows.”
Gourley adds they also plan to install vegetative screening around the project boundary. He says the project is expected to generate an additional $36 million in tax dollars over the project’s 35-year lifespan. During the public hearing, several residents spoke in favor of the proposal, and some spoke against it. Lorrain Green lives on a roughly 400-acre farm with her husband, Tom, and was one of several participating landowners who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting. Green says they felt leasing to Orion was the only way to keep hold of the land that has been in their family for nearly a century.
“We are farm leasing with an excellent farmer, but he is now 90 years old and the last two years he planted just two-thirds of the acres on our farm because he was concerned about the low yield potential,” said Green. “With rising operational costs, unpredictable weather, less than ideal soil, and profit margins continuing to shrink, the reality is no younger farmers are coming forward wanting to farm our farm.”
Other proponents pointed to Orion’s community grant fund. Coordinated through the Community Foundation for Western Iowa, Gourley says the program will provide over $17.5 million to various efforts in the county over the project’s lifespan. Some of those speaking against the project raised concerns over soil contamination from any leakage from the battery storage facility and whether area fire departments would be able to sufficiently respond to emergencies. Other opponents, including county resident Terynes Kleffman, who lives with her family a half-mile south of the project, raised concern over the land currently serving as an ecological connection between the St. Mary’s Island and Folsom Lake wildlife management areas.
“The developer will tell you that they can mitigate this with wildlife fencing or cover crops and seed mixes, but a few small holes at the bottom of a fence and cover crops don’t fix a massive industrial footprint,” said Kleffman. “Replacing a contiguous wildlife corridor with thousands of acres of steel and glass and inverter noise completely fragment this habitat. Big game and migratory birds will simply avoid the area. So what was the point of that 20-year public investment and conservation if we allow private development to choke it out.”
Supervisor Jack Sayers was also among those encouraging the board of adjustment to approve the conditional use permit. Sayers differentiated the Folsom Lake project from another solar project underway on the eastern side of the county, mainly because the farmland is lower quality and leased by Orion rather than purchased.
“While I personally understand the concerns with solar,” he said, “i’ve shared my thoughts and concerns with Orion Energy extensively, i’ve shared my thoughts and concerns with many of you when we discussed ordinance changes last year, I see this as one of the only ways that you folks can keep your family farms within the family.”
Gourley says the company’s “Solar Neighbor Program” will provide $2,500 in annual payments to non-participating residents within a third of a mile of the project, which escalate by 30% each decade. While the project is expected to create 10 to 15 permanent jobs, Gourley says construction is expected to generate hundreds of jobs. Gourley notes that the permitting processes with the state and FAA will likely take over a year to complete before construction can begin. He says initial filings were made with the FAA earlier this summer. The conditional use permit gives Orion up to five years to obtain the other necessary permits and construct the project before they must return to the board of adjustment. A recording of the entire board of adjustment meeting, including a question-and-answer session between project leaders and residents, is available on the Mills County, Iowa YouTube page.
At KMA, we attempt to be accurate in our reporting. If you see a typo or mistake in a story, please contact us by emailing kmaradio@kmaland.com.
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