Solar Farm in Parker County

[Sgt. Slaughter 2841]

Family and I are sitting on 100-acres of farmland in Parker County in which we are looking into developing a solar farm. The land is mostly flat and without trees, directly connected to the grid in Brock, Tx. I was hoping someone might have some insight to the developmental process/permits needed/companies in the industry/ESG partnering opportunities. We would like to keep this within the fold of our business and develop it ourselves if possible.

[Guest]

This all I got from my area.  I drive by this one every once in a while.  It's huge.

https://www.misaesolar.com/misae-solar-park-2

[davidg 4038]

Is 100 acres even big enough for a commercial facility?   There is one being built east of Corsicana by Enel Green Power  that covers almost 3000 acres and is supposed to be 250MW of solar and 80MW of battery storage.  They are out there right now in some of the most fertile black land soil around,  cutting in power cabling and solar panel mounts.

On a kind of related note, Riot Blockchain is building a 400MW bitcoin mining operation in the southern portion of Navarro county that will be online in 2023 and has expansion plans to eventually increase that to 1GW of miners.

[bluto 4943]

10 minutes ago, davidg said:

Is 100 acres even big enough for a commercial facility?   There is one being built east of Corsicana by Enel Green Power  that covers almost 3000 acres and is supposed to be 250MW of solar and 80MW of battery storage.  They are out there right now in some of the most fertile black land soil around,  cutting in power cabling and solar panel mounts.

On a kind of related note, Riot Blockchain is building a 400MW bitcoin mining operation in the southern portion of Navarro county that will be online in 2023 and has expansion plans to eventually increase that to 1GW of miners.

Wonder if they’ve seen Bitcoin prices this year. Coinbase laid off ~20% staff this wk too

[Sgt. Slaughter 2841]

23 minutes ago, davidg said:

Is 100 acres even big enough for a commercial facility?   There is one being built east of Corsicana by Enel Green Power  that covers almost 3000 acres and is supposed to be 250MW of solar and 80MW of battery storage.  They are out there right now in some of the most fertile black land soil around,  cutting in power cabling and solar panel mounts.

On a kind of related note, Riot Blockchain is building a 400MW bitcoin mining operation in the southern portion of Navarro county that will be online in 2023 and has expansion plans to eventually increase that to 1GW of miners.

I have seen examples of solar companies developing out as little as 10 acres. With the size of our land, I thought it could be something we could manage ourselves as long as the funding falls in place. 

[Austinvines 318]

Wind would never get done without the tax credits and I assume solar is the same. You have the resource but are you willing to take on the risk of developing your own solar farm?

[EuroHorn 3271]

You can look up the interconnection process for the utility that owns the power lines (transmission or distribution) that you would connect into  
 

Basically the utility would do a series of studies (feasibility, system impact, and facilities) to determine if theres enough capacity at the interconnection point and the costs to build out infrastructure to connect.  The study process can take over a year depending on how many interconnection requests are ahead of you in the queue. Most developers won’t go through the entire process unless  they have a power purchase agreement in place, I.e., someone willing to buy the power for 10 to 20 years  

Land owners typically lease the land to developers who take on the construction risk and line up a purchase power agreement.  Leasing agreements can be very lucrative if the property is in the right spot and the economics work out 

 

[CooterBrown 18032]

Why not just lease the land to a solar company and collect a check periodically?

[Herbie Hancock 7376]

With the way the price of land is in Parker county, specifically the Brock area, I’m having a hard understanding why you wouldn’t sell the property outright.

[EuroHorn 3271]

2 hours ago, Herbie Hancock said:

With the way the price of land is in Parker county, specifically the Brock area, I’m having a hard understanding why you wouldn’t sell the property outright.

Some people don’t want to sell land if it’s been in the family for decades.  By leasing it to a solar developer, you can at least lock in a revenue stream for 15 to 20 years 

[EuroHorn 3271]

5 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

Why not just lease the land to a solar company and collect a check periodically?

Solar developers are pretty good these days with finding land for potential solar development that work economically.  Most have already done studies that the utilities conduct to see what land is viable.  So you can try and market your land to lease but most developers would have already approached you if there was some opportunity on your land. 

[davidg 4038]

18 hours ago, Sgt. Slaughter said:

I have seen examples of solar companies developing out as little as 10 acres. With the size of our land, I thought it could be something we could manage ourselves as long as the funding falls in place. 

Maybe so.  I did a little searching on google maps and found this 35 acre solar farm in Meridian run by Green Mountain and it looks like they have another small one in Wallis.  A real rough look at some of the existing farms in Tx are producing roughly 100KW/acre and costs seem to be around $1mm/MW so probably $10mm+  to do the project.   Eurohorn hit on the infrastructure part with regard to getting your power into the grid.  Most of these solar farms of any size are being built next to a high voltage grid/substation. I think that's probably a crucial part of making it work.

[Sgt. Slaughter 2841]

1 hour ago, davidg said:

Maybe so.  I did a little searching on google maps and found this 35 acre solar farm in Meridian run by Green Mountain and it looks like they have another small one in Wallis.  A real rough look at some of the existing farms in Tx are producing roughly 100KW/acre and costs seem to be around $1mm/MW so probably $10mm+  to do the project.   Eurohorn hit on the infrastructure part with regard to getting your power into the grid.  Most of these solar farms of any size are being built next to a high voltage grid/substation. I think that's probably a crucial part of making it work.

I agree, that’s been my biggest concern. The land should not take much in terms of development to prepare it, but I don’t know the specific requirements of proximity to the grid/substation.  

6 hours ago, Herbie Hancock said:

With the way the price of land is in Parker county, specifically the Brock area, I’m having a hard understanding why you wouldn’t sell the property outright.

We have received quotes for around $3 million to sell outright, but that would be a much more difficult conversation because it’s land that is jointly owned by multiple family members. We are hoping this is an accommodation to those that want to hold the land but still drive revenue and hopefully the value is that much greater for the next generation.

9 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

Why not just lease the land to a solar company and collect a check periodically?

It’s something we’re considering but the numbers I’ve seen don’t match the profits I know to be out there. Our family has hit a point where everyone is old/young enough to pitch in to business pursuits and I’m a big believer in working to get something done on your own accord before outsourcing. I’m just doing my due diligence on seeing if this isn’t something we can manufacture on our own and maximize the profits.

[Quagmire 2147]

What if it’s cloudy ?

[Chewbacca 7787]

Family and I are sitting on 100-acres of farmland in Parker County in which we are looking into developing a solar farm. The land is mostly flat and without trees, directly connected to the grid in Brock, Tx. I was hoping someone might have some insight to the developmental process/permits needed/companies in the industry/ESG partnering opportunities. We would like to keep this within the fold of our business and develop it ourselves if possible.

Do you know if there is an interconnect available? That is the key piece. And who are you going to sell the power to? You need a PPA.

[RPM 26360]

If it's supplied by Tri-County Electric Coop, you're screwed. Coops have their own set of rules.

[TexPx 2325]

New one proposed in Fannin County east of Bonham is getting a bunch of NIMBY opposition.