Travel just about any highway in West Texas these days, and it’s not hard to appreciate that renewables have become a key aspect of the region’s energy landscape.
But when solar energy comes to Kent County soon via a project that’s been a few years in the making, it’ll be far from the public eye.
Houston-based Clearway Energy Group has been negotiating with the county since 2019 on tax abatements for a 450-megawatt solar energy development in the northwest corner of the county. Located on 4,100 acres entirely within the bounds of the Morrison Ranch, Texas Solar Nova is now under construction after Covid-19-related delays.
“We’re thrilled that Kent county will be home to Clearway’s next state-of-the-art solar farm,” said Raisa Lee, senior manager of project development for the firm. “Once complete, Texas Solar Nova will support several local permanent jobs and generate enough low-cost electricity to power nearly 180,000 Texas homes each year. We’re proud to work in the Lone Star State and continue investing in this community.”
Kent County granted payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements on the three phased projects in 2019 and in December 2021 updated the agreements. The 252-megawatt project 1 was revised to a start date of April 29, 2022, with commercial operation coming online by December 18, 2023.
Construction of 200-megawatt project 2 was revised to begin April 29, 2022, with commercial operation coming online by February 28, 2024.
Construction of 200-mega watt project 3 was revised to a begin April 29, 2022, with commercial operation coming online by December 31, 2025.
Right now, construction on the high-voltage electrical transmission lines is under way by WETT (Wind Energy Transmission of Texas), and Clearway engineers are currently assessing what enhancements will be required on County Road 233 for access to the site. Representatives of Mortenson Construction, the contractor, said on a teleconference with the Kent County Commission earlier this month that approximately 4 miles of the road will require resurfacing with a finer grade of caliche than is available locally; the expense of material, hauling and grading will be the project’s responsibility. The contractor’s representatives said they are “committed to do as much sourcing of labor and material as possible.”
According to the project’s original 2019 filing with the Texas comptroller’s office, The Texas Solar Nova 2 project “will consist of, but not be limited to approximately 641,979 (depends on panel size) solar photovoltaic modules, single axis tracking systems, driven-pile foundations, DC wiring, DC/AC inverters, medium voltage stepup transformers, AC cabling and a central substation with protective circuit breakers and switchgear including a high voltage step-up transformer.”
The application covers all qualified property in the reinvestment zone and project boundary within Jayton-Girard ISD.
Lee said that the project will create hundreds of construction jobs and support several permanent jobs operating and maintaining the solar farm, in an industry that’s one of the fastest-growing job creators in the country. “We will announce more about job opportunities during a job fair later this year,” said Lee.
Kent County judge Jim C. White, who has overseen discussions and agreements on the project for three years, said, “I am hopeful that things are determined to be worthy and the project is completed but only time will tell.”
Clearway is one of the largest renewable energy developers and operators in the U.S., with its Houston office and multiple wind and solar sites in Texas, operating more than 5 gigawatts of wind and solar energy sites nationwide, including more than two dozen utility-scale solar sites like Texas Solar Nova.
For more information visit www.clearwayenergygroup.com/our-projects/
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