Two years ago: This was the public meeting the Energy Facility Siting Council sponsored in Brownsville on the proposed Muddy Creek Energy Park on July 25, 2023.
Driving up I-5 toward Albany the other day, I saw banners in the fields on the right with the word “Solar.” At freeway speed, I could not make out the rest. But whatever happened to the proposal to build the “Muddy Creek Energy Park” in that vicinity?
The answer to that question appeared Tuesday when the Oregon Energy Facility Council published the agenda for when it meets in Salem on May 16.
“Muddy Creek Energy Park Notice of Intent Extension Request (Action Item),” the agenda says. “Council will review a request to extend the expiration of the Notice of Intent by one year, to May 19, 2026.”
In case we had forgotten, the agenda reminds us: “The Muddy Creek Energy Park is a proposed 199 megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic power generation facility in Linn County.”
Almost two years ago, in July 2023, the state sponsored a public meeting in Brownsville to hear comments about this solar project. Scores of people showed up, and many voiced opposition to covering a large area of open farmland east of the freeway with solar cells and related features including a battery facility.
Under Oregon law, once a company files a notice of intent to build an an energy facility, such as a solar or wind farm, the state decides what all it will require in the way of studies and reports for the poject to go forward. When applicants have done all that is required, they may then apply for a site certificate.
A company named Hanwha Qcells USA Corp., based in Irvine, Calif., filed its notice of intent on May 19, 2023. Oiginally the company had intended to submit a preliminary application for site certificate (pASC) in November 2023.
Now, in a letter to the siting council dated March 31, Hanwha’s development manager Brian Tran explained the reason for the request for more time:
“The Applicant is continuing to refine the agrivoltaics management plan with the participating landowner in order to most effectively retain agricultural production and minimize agricultural impacts within the Facility Site Boundary. Consequently, the Applicant decided to delay submitting the pASC until after 2023. The Applicant remains confident in and committed to the Facility, while continuing to advance the design and collecting all data needed to move the Facility forward.”
For more details on this project, you can check the Siting Council’s website here.
Next time I drive north past the Priceboro Road overpass, I’ll try to slow down enough so I can tell whether those “Solar” banners on the right side of the freeway try to promote the project or want it stopped. (hh)
The solar energy park would be located on fields like this in south Linn County near I-5, which you can almost see in the distance.
My house is entirely powered by solar and I love it. In 2010 I had 1/2 of the panels installed and in 2017 I had the other 1/2 installed. I just pay a small connection fee monthly to my electric company.
So I am entirely behind this project.
Did your home consume wetlands to be built ? Solar power is not what the problem here is … location location location .
Why are Americans consuming high quality agricultural land, the Willamette Valley is the best in the world, for solar farms that can be sited on arid land that grows nothing? That is just knee-jerk, and not very smart. In any case, solar panels are not as “clean” as they seem. I have been in production plants. The process uses a lot of toxic materials and energy. It might be 2-3 years before the energy to build a solar panel is recovered. It requires about 2000 hours of peak solar production to recover the manufacturing energy. If a panel averages peak power 5 hours a day, 200 days a year (in Oregon), that is two years to recover the energy lost in production of the panel, plus installation power requirements (transport)
I still do not understand why we need to use up farm land to do this when we could use a parking lot at Heritage Mall, or/and Costco/Winco and have covered parking for customers.
Refining the agrivoltaic management plan will likely be informed by Dr. Higgins work, which is updated here- https://agsci-labs.oregonstate.edu/newagbee/agrivoltaics/
The link at the OSU North Willamette Research Center doesn’t seem to be updated (2021 publish date.)
I’ve been wondering if the proposed project weren’t so bloody big, would it have received less opposition? Same goes for Mr. Simon’s planned chicken raising juggernaut on Scio-Jefferson highway.
Sad thing is, in shadow of foot hills of morning, December through most of March had more clouds than clear sky, some is wetlands, etc
We don’t want the solar panel farm here in our beautiful willamette valley. Once it is placed it will be like a paved parking lot-forever there. They are ugly and destroy the landscape. The greed of the land owner is what’s causing this. Shame on them.
So you’re saying the landowner shouldn’t have the right to do what they want to with their land? How very left wing of you. Shame on you for expecting the landowner to cater to your ideas for their land.
“The Applicant is continuing to refine the agrivoltaics management plan with the participating landowner in order to most effectively retain agricultural production and minimize agricultural impacts within the Facility Site Boundary….”
Buy your own acreage to hug.
Didn’t the Orange God King condemn this sort of energy. Killing millions and millions of birds is what he said.
There is one already built on Hwy 20 between Albany and Lebanon. Is it working yet and how much electricity does it produce?