It was an overflow crowd that squeezed into the community room at Brownsville City Hall Tuesday evening to hear and talk about the proposed Muddy Creek Energy Park.
Judging by the crowd at a meeting in Brownsville Tuesday evening, there’s a great deal of public interest in a proposal for a solar “farm” in south Linn County.
The meeting was not a hearing, just a chance to learn and talk about the proposal by a susidiary of Hanwha Qcells USA. The company hopes to build what would be the first photovoltaic electric generating plant in the Willamette Valley.
The panels of solar collectors would be set up on an irregularly shaped site north and south of Priceboro Road, east of Interstate 5. The site measures about 1,588 acres or 2.5 square miles of mostly ryegrass fields. The arrays of collectors would be on three separate areas totaling 1,100 acres within the site, conneced by 100-foot-wide corridors.
Tuesday’s meeting in Brownsville attracted a crowd bigger than what the community room at Brownville City Hall could easily accommodate. I did not get a good count, but my guess is that around 100 people showed up.
South Linn County is not on my regular rounds. But I went because I hadn’t seen any local coverage of what seems like a significant development important to the region, especially the farm community.
One of those attending was Alex Paul, a former reporter and colleague of mine at the Democrat-Herald who now works for Linn County. I asked him for his short-hand impression:
“Other than the applicant, no one spoke in favor. People are upset because they think the company is trying for an ‘end run’ around Linn County’s Planning & Building process and that it will be on 1,500 acres of what is considered ‘prime’ farm land.”
The proposed site is zoned for exclusive farm use. The applicant has chosen to seek approval of the project not from the county but from the Energy Facility Siting Council, which state law allows.
If the company follows up on its “notice of intent” and files a formal application for a site certificate, this will start a process to establish standards the project has to meet. Then there would be a contested-case hearing where formal testimony would be taken. Eventually the Siting Council would act on the application.
Some of the paperwork available so far says this could be a “dual-use” facility where solar panels, mounted on poles a few feet off the ground, would share space with sheep grazing below.
The project, including batteries, has a planned capacity of 199 megawatts. At full capacity it could provide power for around 34,000 homes.
If it goes ahead, the company hopes to start construction in the third quarter of 2025 and produce power late in 2026.
There will be more on this, much more as time goes on. You can follow the process online on the Department of Energy website here. (hh)
Chase McVeigh-Walker, far left, an analyst for the state Energy Department, addressed the crowd early on before the audience grew.
On Tuesday afternoon, here’s a harvested grass-seed field along Priceboro Road in the area where the solar collectors have been proposed.
No one wants solar panels in our farm land .. I pray they don’t get their way
Your lease on land won’t go up. The excuse that it will harm wildlife is mostly BS…Still stuck in the 50’s? More electricy means lower cost for everyone. And farm land? Really, most of that land is growing grass seed. Do you eat that?
We have plenty of hillsides they could use, why waste farmland.
I’d guess because hillsides reduce the total potential of light in a 24 hour period, because it inherently means it collects light against an angle, unlike flat land.
Now is a good time to start communicating your dislikes with the House and Senate members in Salem who represent your area. Lets let them know that this is not what people in the mid valley area want.
They need to know that an end run to local regulations via a State Department or Council is against the wishes of a majority.
“The project, including batteries, has a planned capacity of 199 megawatts.”
One wonders, why 199? More govt. or safety regulations once it reaches 200?
In “our” farmland?
It’s not what “we” want”?
Time for a reality check and a challenge to the cult of the omnipotent government.
Time to defend the rights of the individual and property owner(s).
Property owner(s) have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own choices, so long as they don’t interfere with the rights of others.
A voluntary and contractual relationship governs. Not government rules & regulations forced on the principals.
Not opinions of those who want to use the power of government to impose their personal wishes on this private transaction. Such imposition is the anti-thesis of freedom.
Folks…get out of the way. Local and state governments…get out of the way.
People should not be forced to sacrifice their property for the arbitrary “benefit” of others. This isn’t Russia or China.
Who actually owns the land? Is this a case of eminent domain by the Department of Energy? Is this owned by the farmers? None of it sounds “cricket” to me…Is it owned by
Hanwha Qcells USA ? Which sound Chinese to me. I think something smells rotten here.
Hanwha Qcells USA need to listen to Jason Aldean’s song and let them know what happens to people/companies that want to come into a small town and try their bull pucky with them.
It’s not Chinese but South Korean. The proposal covers private land. I’d be surprised if the company did not have some kind of option agreement with the owners.
Excellent question. Who currently owns the land? Why is that not being shared or reported?
Also, why should the government have such power over private property owners’ land?
HH’s previous article on this topic literally says “Hanwha is based in South Korea” so at least attempt to state (demean) the right country.
I wonder how much money the govt. will print for “energy subsidies” for this company. I suspect it has “sister companies” that just happen to sell solar farm supplies.
Excellent reporting Hasso.
Thank you for your reply Hasso. I think most people are/ would be upset about “Other than the applicant, no one spoke in favor. People are upset because they think the company is trying for an ‘end run’ around Linn County’s Planning & Building process and that it will be on 1,500 acres of what is considered ‘prime’ farm land.”
The proposed site is zoned for exclusive farm use. The applicant has chosen to seek approval of the project not from the county but from the Energy Facility Siting Council, which state law allows.
I myself find it very unsettling that the E F S C is involved with this, regardless of whether the “State” can do it isn’t the point here. It clearly is NOT what the People want or expect from their county and state. I see this as being political. It shows that there is no real power of the people and that possibly secret deals are being made without the Peoples knowledge or consent on what was already deemed Farm Land Only by the county.
Are they going to build houses for 34000 people there? A fifteen minute city? ” You’ll own nothing and be happy?”
People don’t eat grass, If the owner of the land welcome the project, we should as well. The sun is free energy, coal and natural gas are not.
To help clear some of the confusion …
Right. People don’t eat grass but milk cows and beef cattle do.
Muddy Creek Energy Park LLC of Irvine, CA is a subsidiary of Hanwha Q CELLS USA, of the same address in Irvine, CA. As Denise explained very nicely a few days ago, Hanwha Q CELLS USA is a part of Hanwha, a South Korean company.
Here’s a link to a Q Cells website describing the project. I think it was created early on before some details were firmed up:
https://coburghillsenergy.com/
There are ten separate properties comprising the proposed solar facility site. Five of those properties are owned by Midnight Sun INC IV of Nampa, ID, and were purchased in 2008. If anyone can figure out what kind of outfit is Midnight Sun, please enlighten me. The remaining five properties are privately owned. The owners were offered lucrative lease contracts, with NDAs.
The link Hasso provided contains very good information that was presented at the meeting. There is even more information on the Dept of Energy web page for the project, where you can even track the progress of the project approval process:
https://www.oregon.gov/energy/facilities-safety/facilities/Pages/MCEP.aspx
There are many, many factors the EFSC will consider in making a decision whether to approve or deny this proposal. A few factors:
-The economic impact on the nearby communities and businesses
-The impacts on nearby farming operations
-Wetlands on the site to be protected or mitigated
-Wildlife and habitat to be protected: elk herds, threatened streaked horned lark, migrating geese and ducks
-And of course our non-renewable, diminishing farmland.
Thank you Hasso for keeping us informed!! There were folks at the meeting who heard about it only through your blog.
Kudos, Hasso for going there, perhaps off your beat. We appreciate your continued excellent reporting! This project is not wanted for so many reasons.
High desert ground is much more suitable. It’s less productive ground, more sunlight and less invasive. There are other options than the Willamette valley.
I attended the meeting. Those who spoke often stated EFU means EFU and that is what we want here. The EFSC representative said State law allows solar farms to be sited on EFU land. An Elected Director of a nearby Water Control District corrected that over statement. Director said State law MAY allow siting of solar farms with restrictions.
The crowd did not like that EFSC members are not elected ; but are appointed by the Governor–a Democrat; while Linn County is heavily Republican
One has to love the palpable irony:
Some folks crying wolf over supposed gov’t overreach while others want to deny private land owners the opportunity to develop their land – their way …
Of course YOU love the govt sneaking around anyway possible. Kind of like you calling a SALES TAX a “Franchise Fee” and THEN HIDING IT IN OUR UTILITY BILLS!
Sorry you can’t or won’t abide State & City rules Bill. If you think it was “hidden,” methinks you’re totally disconected with reality and intentionally disregarded any/all news of it happening.
There were “franchise fees” hidden in our electric bills. Something like the first 5% IIRC. Deny that ever happened! Are you still doing that? Yes or no!
What do Albany city franchise fees enacted 30 years ago (or thereabouts) have to do with converting farm land in south Linn County to the generation of electricity? From now on I’ll not post comments that have nothing to do with the subject at hand.
there was no evidence presented to suggest locals want to develop their lands with solar arrays in that area.
Absence of one doesn’t prove the other…
Great comment Ray! I don’t know what absence you are talking about but the main point is a $1 million installation will create close to $500,000 in direct tax credits for wealthy people, so to Glenn Edwards, a solar installation takes money from your pocket to pay for it and the power is extemely expensive. Furthermore, Oregon in 2020 used 537 million MWH of electricity so using 1500 acres to create 199 megawatts of power is ludicrous. Also, Oregon uses more CO2 than it produces so the question is why are we subsidizing China, California, etc?
The city likes to play the “if we don’t say anything, you can’t say we lied, card. Withholding the truth is lying, it is called “lying by omission”. That doesn’t even work for 5 year old kiddos. Sneaky, lowlife behavior is nothing to be proud of and definitely not something to brag about.
What city are you talking about. The solar farm is near Brownsville, but I think it’s in county land well outside of their city limits.
Or are you talking about Albany?
The nefarious & dystopian mindset some folks like to wallow in is hilarious. Very glad I’m not part of it and Iive in a much more positive & progressive community… :-)