The Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved a special permit to allow the developers of a proposed solar farm east of Lincoln to add more land.
Ranger Power is seeking to add a 75-acre parcel northeast of the intersection of 162nd and Holdrege streets to the larger project, which covers more than 2,800 acres stretching from 120th Street to 190th Street and from O Street to Havelock Avenue and is expected to generate 250 megawatts of power.
About half of the land is in the city's zoning jurisdiction and about half is in the county's jurisdiction. When the County Board approved its portion of the project in December, it increased setback requirements beyond the minimums usually required.
That made it necessary for Ranger Power to find additional land on which to place solar panels to be able to fulfill the full scope of the project while still meeting the county's spacing requirements, said Sean Harris, vice president of development for the Chicago-based company.
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The 75 acres near 162nd and Holdrege streets would host enough solar panels to generate a little over 6 megawatts of power.
The solar project has been unpopular with area residents, who have shown up to oppose it at numerous public hearings, citing the potential for noise, fire hazards, toxic contamination and loss of property values.
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Five people sent letters of opposition to the Planning Department, and one person testified at Wednesday's hearing.
Neighbors have 14 days to appeal the Planning Commission's approval, and if they do so, it will go to another hearing in front of the County Board.
The states producing the most solar energy
States Producing the Most Solar Energy
In the first few months of his administration, one of President Joe Biden’s top policy priorities has been addressing the threat of climate change—while also improving infrastructure and creating jobs to generate economic growth. Biden has of reaching 100% pollution-free electricity by 2035, which means dramatically scaling up renewable energy production in the U.S. To that end, Biden’s proposed would include extensive tax credits, grants, and other investments in clean energy.One of the potential beneficiaries of this focus is the solar power industry, which is seeing rapid growth as the costs associated with solar decline. For many years, solar power was too expensive to be adopted at scale as a major source of energy production, but this has changed in recent years.One of the biggest reasons for the decline in costs has been technological innovation. Solar technology has become more reliable and more efficient over time, which lowers the cost of generating energy. As those costs decrease, adoption becomes more common, which allows solar cell manufacturers to achieve economies of scale and lower prices even further.Government support has also been a major factor: billions in federal investment for renewables during the Great Recession helped spur the technological advances seen in the last decade, and the federal government—along with many states and localities—has long offered to subsidize household solar adoption.These factors reached an inflection point in the mid-2000s, and solar production in the U.S. has been growing exponentially ever since. In 2006, solar generated around 507,000 megawatthours of energy and represented .01% of U.S. energy generated by the electric power industry. By 2019, solar thermal and photovoltaic accounted for 71,936,822 megawatthours—around 140 times more than in 2006—to represent 1.74% of total.
Wirestock, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo
The use of solar power continues to grow rapidly in the US
Solar is still a relatively small part of the U.S.’s overall energy mix but will become an increasingly significant source as solar production continues to accelerate—particularly if the Biden Administration’s climate policies and clean energy investments come to pass. For now, however, renewables overall (17.7% of total electricity generation) still lag behind natural gas (38.4%), coal (23.4%), and nuclear (19.6%). Within the renewable category, solar (9.9% of renewable production) trails wind (40.6%) and hydroelectric (39.5%).
Renewables still lag behind natural gas coal and nuclear
Despite its small but growing role in overall U.S. energy production, solar is a major part of the energy mix in a number of states. The undisputed leader of these states is California, which leads all others both by total solar energy production and the share of electricity derived from solar. California’s total solar energy production is nearly four times that of the runner-up state, North Carolina. Many of the market factors that have made solar more popular nationwide hold in California, too, but the Golden State also has geographic features and a political climate that have made it a solar leader.
California leads the US in solar energy production
In terms of geography, California is one of the U.S. states with the highest levels of , or exposure to the sun. Insolation is a factor for many other leading states for solar production, including Sun Belt locations like Texas, Southwestern states Nevada and Arizona, and Southeastern states North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Politically, California’s policymakers have created an environment that all but guarantees heavy reliance on solar energy. For instance, California has one of the most ambitious of any U.S. state, with a goal of generating 60% of energy from renewables by 2030 and 100% of energy from renewables by 2045. Additionally, in 2020, the state most new homes to include rooftop solar panels.To find the states where solar production is highest, researchers at used data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Electricity Power Data . States were ranked by annual solar production for electric power (in megawatthours) for 2019. The researchers also calculated the year-over-year change in total solar energy production from 2018–2019, as well as what percentage of total energy production and renewable energy production solar accounts for.Here are the states producing the most solar energy.
15. South Carolina
Annual solar energy production (megawatthours): 858,546Change in solar energy production (YoY): +68.2%Solar share of total energy production: 0.9%Solar share of total renewable energy production: 14.3%
Alpegor / Alamy Stock Photo
14. Virginia
Annual solar energy production (megawatthours): 949,111Change in solar energy production (YoY): +24.4%Solar share of total energy production: 1.0%Solar share of total renewable energy production: 15.3%
Westend61 GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo
13. Massachusetts
Annual solar energy production (megawatthours): 1,163,776Change in solar energy production (YoY): +19.0%Solar share of total energy production: 5.4%Solar share of total renewable energy production: 34.7%
Yakoniva / Alamy Stock Photo
12. New Jersey
Annual solar energy production (megawatthours): 1,164,721Change in solar energy production (YoY): +17.6%Solar share of total energy production: 1.6%Solar share of total renewable energy production: 57.9%
JG Photography / Alamy Stock Photo
11. Colorado
Annual solar energy production (megawatthours): 1,218,220Change in solar energy production (YoY): +14.7%Solar share of total energy production: 2.2%Solar share of total renewable energy production: 8.7%
Fred Fuhrmeister / Alamy Stock Photo
10. Minnesota
Annual solar energy production (megawatthours): 1,248,833Change in solar energy production (YoY): +19.8%Solar share of total energy production: 2.1%Solar share of total renewable energy production: 8.6%
Joe Ferrer / Alamy Stock Photo
9. New Mexico
Annual solar energy production (megawatthours): 1,365,900Change in solar energy production (YoY): +1.3%Solar share of total energy production: 3.9%Solar share of total renewable energy production: 16.1%
Cavan Images / Alamy Stock Photo
8. Georgia
Annual solar energy production (megawatthours): 2,160,770Change in solar energy production (YoY): +8.3%Solar share of total energy production: 1.7%Solar share of total renewable energy production: 18.8%
Billy Blume / Alamy Stock Photo
7. Utah
Annual solar energy production (megawatthours): 2,186,424Change in solar energy production (YoY): Ìý-1.7%Solar share of total energy production: 5.6%Solar share of total renewable energy production: 51.3%
Chon Kit Leong / Alamy Stock Photo
6. Florida
Annual solar energy production (megawatthours): 3,901,445Change in solar energy production (YoY): +61.7%Solar share of total energy production: 1.6%Solar share of total renewable energy production: 45.6%
Images-USA / Alamy Stock Photo
5. Texas
Annual solar energy production (megawatthours): 4,365,125Change in solar energy production (YoY): +36.2%Solar share of total energy production: 0.9%Solar share of total renewable energy production: 4.8%
Wirestock, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo
4. Nevada
Annual solar energy production (megawatthours): 4,810,511Change in solar energy production (YoY): +1.9%Solar share of total energy production: 12.1%Solar share of total renewable energy production: 42.4%
Chon Kit Leong / Alamy Stock Photo
3. Arizona
Annual solar energy production (megawatthours): 5,278,019Change in solar energy production (YoY): +2.7%Solar share of total energy production: 4.6%Solar share of total renewable energy production: 43.0%
Cultura RM / Alamy Stock Photo
2. North Carolina
Annual solar energy production (megawatthours): 7,451,338Change in solar energy production (YoY): +21.9%Solar share of total energy production: 5.7%Solar share of total renewable energy production: 44.6%
Organic Photographer / Alamy Stock Photo
1. California
Annual solar energy production (megawatthours): 28,331,513Change in solar energy production (YoY): +5.0%Solar share of total energy production: 14.0%Solar share of total renewable energy production: 29.1%
Image Source / Alamy Stock Photo
Reach the writer at 402-473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com .
On Twitter @LincolnBizBuzz.
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