TORRINGTON – Connie and Doug Howe thought is was just another piece of junk mail promising riches at the end of an unknown phone number. At first they ignored the flyer, which was from a company called Innovative Solar Systems, but it sat on the table taunting them. The flyer said ISS was looking for land lease opportunities on which to build a solar farm. The Howe’s had some land that seemed to be what ISS was looking for and finally they called the number. After all they didn’t have to commit to anything.
“They sent out flyers to people who lived along the power lines,” said Connie. “We called them last May, with a map of our property and they talked to us and were very interested.”
Interested enough that the Howe’s got a two year lease from ISS, sight unseen, on their 320 acre tract of land that seemed to meet all the requirements.
“There couldn’t be any buildings on the property,” Connie said. “And no mineral development or underground pipelines. There couldn’t be any trees or other obstacles to remove and we had to own the mineral rights and can’t lease it out for drilling or mining.
“Probably, most importantly, transmission lines have to be on the property.”
Currently, the Howes lease the land for grazing in the summer, which they can still do until construction on the solar farm begins, which Connie said would be at least two years while the company completes the legal work and permitting necessary to carry out the construction and sale of electrical power. A timeline that ISS Land Acquisition Manager Lionel Gilbert said is realistic, but not guaranteed.
“It takes a long time to get these approved,” Gilbert said, referring to the permitting and contracting phase of constructing a solar farm. “We schedule two years for our due diligence after a property has been identified and committed. Typically, if everything goes well construction can begin in a two year range.”
Gilbert said ISS has been in business for eight years and has completed about 45 functioning solar farms, mostly in the Southeast United States. The ISS home base is in Asheville, NC.
“We have several investment groups that fund each of the projects,” Gilbert said. “We just do the permitting, contracting and construction. So, as you can imagine it is quite a long and drawn out process to bring one of these on-line.”
Asked why ISS has reached into Wyoming to look at possible farm sites, Gilbert said they are reaching out across the whole country.
“Solar will grow as an integral part of power production over the next 10 years. Probably more.
“We’ve chosen every county in the U.S. as a possible solar farm site. We have over 100 leases in Texas and additional leases in New Mexico and Colorado. Our ads and flyers have gone out across the country. Of course, not every parcel will meet the requirements but we’re trying to identify as many as possible.”
For consideration, the property has to be at least 150 acres in order to install a 20 Megawatt solar farm. The Howes are looking at hosting a 30 to 40 Megawatt farm, enough to power a town of about
3,000 people.
“The counties where farms are located benefit greatly because the operations are completely automated,” explained Gilbert. “It doesn’t utilize water, sewer or any other services. There are no new kids in schools. And you can’t have a cleaner, quieter neighbor.
And, as the Howes hope to find out, the benefits to the landowner will also be substantial.
“If a property owner is fortunate enough to have a solar farm located on their property,” Gilbert said, “The Lord has blessed them and set them up for the next 20 years.”
