Late last week, representatives from ibV Energy Partners held an informational meeting on the controversial Rhudes Creek Project.
The project, consisting of a 100 megawatt solar farm, has many residents concerned this will take away prime farmland. During the meeting, ibV stated they have plans of allowing landowners to continue farming the land.
“We are going to graze sheep on this project. We also are going to plant bee pollinators to bring the bee population back and monarch butterflies. And the life of this project is a 35 year lifespan for these solar panels. In 35 years, we’ll go back to agriculture,” stated ibV co-founder Robin Saiz. He believes another benefit of the project will be reliability.
“Whether it’s a coal factory, a new factory or something that’s in another part of the state that’s supplying your power down here, if they go offline for something, you now have energy that’s being generated here locally that’s going to provide you grid reliability when other things go offline.”
The project awaits a conditional use permit hearing set to take place next month.
