By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Darien Solar Energy Center is in the developmental stages toward bringing a power generation facility to the Town of Darien in the next few years. Invenergy Senior Associate of Renewable Development Cooper Johnson made a presentation to the Village of Darien board Nov. 18 about the proposed project.
The project’s study area is south of the City of Delavan and west of the Village of Darien in the towns of Delavan in Walworth County and Bradford in Rock County. None of the project would be in the Village of Darien or the City of Delavan, but both communities could receive indirect economic benefits from the project.
Once the company identifies the best locations for its solar panels, agreements will be reached with interested property owners. Johnson said the developmental stage will be in play into the year 2020. Applications will be applied for in 2020 or 2021, construction will take place in 2021 or 2022, and the facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2022.
Johnson called the facility a temporary but long-term project. He said the expected functional life of the technology is 30-35 years after which Invenergy will end operations, remove everything, and return the properties to the state they were in before the project.
He stressed the project is based on voluntary lease agreements with property owners and Invenergy wants to build on the local support it has already received for the project.
“We want to build on the rural values of the community,” Johnson said.
According to Johnson, the solar energy center will be noiseless, odorless and will create clean solar power.
“It will be low impact to the community,” Johnson said.
Read more about the solar farm and other topics discussed at the meeting in the Nov. 21 Delavan Enterprise.
What impact will this have on the surrounding woodlands and the wildlife that inhabit them?