CEAC-2019-09-September

NEWS
Company Proposes Solar Power Project
East of Lincoln
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A New York company is preparing to
build a 230-megawatt solar power farm east of Nebraska’s
capital city of Lincoln, making it the biggest solar installation
in the state.
Ranger Power, which is based in Brooklyn, New York, said
it has arranged leases with the owners of more than 1,000
acres near a Lincoln Electric System substation and intends to
seek a local permit for the solar farm.
The project development manager, Colin Snow, said Ranger
has talked to three major Nebraska utilities — Lincoln Electric,
Omaha Public Power District and Nebraska Public Power
District — about buying the power but has not sealed any
deals. The company wants to build the entire $230 million
project in one phase, but that could be difficult if it does not
get enough power purchase commitments.
Ranger Power has done more than 20 solar projects in eight
Midwestern states. Snow said the Lincoln site was attractive
because of the substation nearby and the proximity to the
state’s “major load stations” of Lincoln and Omaha.
C.J. Walsh, the company’s vice president of development,
said “there’s a great opportunity to sell power in Nebraska.”
That’s because utilities are always looking to diversify their
power sources, and solar power can act as a stable hedge
against other power sources that have more volatile prices,
he said.
The company hopes to start construction within two years,
and the work would take six to 12 months.
The project would create more than 300 temporary construction
jobs but only about a half-dozen permanent jobs, said
Pat Haverty, vice president of the Lincoln Partnership for
Economic Development.
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