ENGIE applies for special exemption permit to operate solar farm near Greentown

May 8—GREENTOWN — ENGIE, a French multinational electric utility company, has filed an application for a special exemption to operate a solar farm outside of Greentown dubbed Emerald Green Solar Farm, starting in motion a process that will ultimately decide whether or not the project will happen or not.

The request will be heard and voted on at 7 p.m. June 22 by the Howard County Board of Zoning Appeals, BZA Executive Director Greg Sheline told the Tribune. Both ENGIE and the public will be heard at the meeting.

The board's meetings are usually held on the third floor of the Howard County Administration Center but June's meeting is likely to be held at the Kokomo Event Center, 1500 N. Reed Road, due to the expectation that dozens, if not a hundred or more people, plan on attending.

Specifically, the company's application is to operate a power generation facility, Sheline said. ENGIE will not have to try and rezone the land it wants to develop because the county's zoning ordinance allows for a "power generation facility" to be developed on agriculture land given a special exemption permit is approved by the BZA.

If the special exemption permit is approved, it will be the go-ahead for ENGIE to apply for a building permit and begin construction. If it's not approved, ENGIE can't move forward with construction, though the company can try again for a special exemption permit after six months, according to the county zoning laws. Those same laws, though, allow the planning director to accept another special exemption request earlier than the six months if the petition contains "major changes."

Under the county's zoning law, BZA board members are to consider the following criteria before voting to approve any special exemption permit request:

1. The proposal will not be injurious to the public health, safety, morals and welfare of the community.

2. The requirements and development standards for the requested use as prescribed by this Zoning Ordinance will be met.

3. Granting the exception will not subvert the general purposes served by this Zoning Ordinance and will not permanently injure other property or uses in the same district and vicinity

4. The proposed use will be consistent with the character of the district therein, the spirit and intent of this Zoning Ordinance, and the Comprehensive Plan.

The BZA's approval can also include stipulations, and the board has the power to revoke the special exception permit or add additional stipulations if warranted.

The proposed solar farm will be built east of Greentown, south of U.S. 35 and mostly east of Duke Energy's Greentown substation. It will generate 200 megawatts of electricity — enough to power more than 53,000 homes — and will be an investment of $150 million and generate 300 to 350 temporary construction jobs and "minimal" permanent jobs, according to the company.

In August, the company said the solar panels themselves would cover approximately 1,500 acres of the 2,000 acres the company plans on leasing, but that has since been scaled back, Tom Green, director of development, said Friday.

Green declined to specify how much acreage the solar panels would take up, saying that the company is still working on the details with the county planning commission office.

The company added that in areas where solar panels will not be, native grasses and pollinator plants will be planted and "locations near neighboring homes will be screened by existing trees or planted rows of mixed evergreen trees and shrubs." A fence will be constructed around the solar panels. To help hide the fence, evergreen trees or something similar will be placed just outside the fence.

Additionally, the company said in an email Friday, that after hearing the concerns expressed in last August's town hall, it increased the project's setback from adjacent residential property lines to 200 feet, and, thus, "reduced the project footprint significantly."

"There is just over 1,800 acres of those parcels that are included in the application, but that is quite a bit more land than what will be needed for the project," Green said. "There will be quite a bit of greenspace or even farmland on land that we have leased, but will not be inside the fence."

ENGIE is planning on running the solar farm for 30 to 40 years. The company estimates, even with the recent changes, the solar farm will generate an additional $30 million in tax revenue for Howard County, including nearly $20 million for the Eastern Howard School Corporation, over the project's lifespan.

After the project is over, ENGIE said it will remove the solar panels and undergo a decommission project to make sure the land can be used for agriculture again.

The electricity generated will be sold to utility companies, such as Duke Energy or NIPSCO, and other large corporations that are looking to increase their sourcing of electricity from renewable energies.

Since the project's announcement, it has faced backlash, particularly from residents who live near the proposed project site.

Their major concerns revolve around the effect the project would have on their property values; the fact the company plans on asking for a tax abatement but is not creating many permanent jobs; that ENGIE sources most of its solar panels from southeast Asia; and that the company can't guarantee the electricity generated by the solar farm would be utilized locally. Some also believe the annual tax revenue ENGIE estimates it will pay to local governments and the school corporation is not that significant when you factor in each tax unit's annual budgets and it being spread over three decades.

Tyler Juranovich can be reached at 765-454-8577, by email at tyler.juranovich@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @tylerjuranovich