Developers build solar farms outside Snyder

SNYDER — Two solar farms near Snyder are providing a boon for Kiowa County.

According to the Kiowa County Commissioners office, two companies are building the farms: Recurrent Energy for the North Fork project (South Farm) and Savion Energy for the Kiowa County project (North Farm).

Cari Collins, director of Global Public Affairs for Recurrent Energy, said the North Fork project started construction in 2018. They held a grand opening for their farm last week.

“We have been very focused on working with the local community on the development process and on continuing to maintain our relationships and presence in the local community as we own and operate this project long-term,” Collins said.

Collins said the project is contracted with Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority.

“Oklahoma has been known for its rich wind resource and now with solar it’s an excellent complement for OMPA’s customers to benefit from the low cost of our power,” Collins said. “That is also a great complement to the wind that they already incorporate in their portfolio.”

Collins said the project is a 160 megawatt project and is built on more than 1,000 acres on private leased property. Since Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority focuses mainly on wind energy, this will be their first solar project.

Collins said the farm is one of the largest solar projects in the state.

“Oklahoma has a fantastic solar resource, so we’re able to generate electricity off this project at a very low cost for Oklahoma customers,” Collins said.

Collins said that since the project is a large infrastructure, it will generate more than $25 million in tax revenue over the life of the project. The project is also contributing annual tax revenue for community services. The project created 500 local construction jobs during construction.

“Landowners who leased their land for the project will receive annual lease payments for hosting the project on their property,” Collins said. “Additionally, Recurrent Energy employs people locally for the operations and maintenance of the project.”

Collins said there is a lot of things to consider when developing an energy project.

“You’re building in an area that has both a good high quality solar resource as well as an end use customer that is interested in sharing that power with their ratepayers,” Collins said.

Collins said 100 percent of the power produced will go to Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority.

With every energy project, safety is always a cause for concern, especially when children unknowingly play on sites like these. Collins said fencing is put up in accordance with local safety requirements.

“Only trained personnel are allowed inside the fenced area to minimize any risk,” Collins said.

Spivey Paup, managing director of Business Development at Recurrent Energy, said the panels usually lie down to catch the rays. In the case of inclement weather, such as hail, the panels will tilt horizontally, making the hail bounce safely off the panels. The site even has a hail monitoring system which measures how big the hail stones are and sends the data back to the Recurrent Energy office.

Brianna Baca, development director for Savion Energy, said their project is a 100 megawatt project. It began in February 2023 and will be finished by the end of this year. The project is in its fourth phase of construction, which includes the installment of the solar panels. The project is also being built on private property on less than 700 acres of leased land.

Baca said the project is contracted by Solv Energy. It will connect to the regional power grid controlled by Southwest Power Pool (SPP) to add more solar energy to the transmission grid.

“Suitable areas … are based on the following factors: proximity to available transmission, significant energy demand within the electrical grid, landowner and community interest, significant local economic benefits and a form of development that maintains the rural character of the area,” Baca said.

Baca said the project will serve customers within the Southwest Power Pool regional transmission.

“The electricity generated by the solar project will be injected into the high-voltage electric grid and wholesale electricity market at the substation,” Baca said. “From there, the energy will be distributed to every consumer that is connected to that substation and line.”

Baca said the revenue and benefits differ between the city and county.

“The City of Snyder gets a lot of local revenue during the construction,” Baca said. “The county gets most of the benefit, but that benefit trickles down based on what jurisdiction it’s in.”

Baca said the projects are silent revenue generators.

“Each landowner is chosen to enter into a long-term lease that is a consistent income that’s typically higher than market rate,” Baca said. “Each private landowner chooses to sign it and it’s a positive revenue generator for them. It doesn’t create a lot of traffic (and) it doesn’t put any stress on the schools offering a positive tax increase based on Oklahoma taxes.

Baca said they hire local employees for the project.

“Our contractor likes to hire local subcontractors, especially for installing the panels, and they’re typically pretty high paying jobs so it’s a very positive impact during construction,” Baca said.

Baca said they are still in the construction phase and will be finished by December 2024.