The bygone military base is no stranger to solar power and already contains 720 solar panels mounted on dual-axis tracking devices along with 216 fixed-mount panels.
Ranger Solar made a presentation to the board earlier in June, and the LDA is still in the process of discussing the project with the development company.
According to LDA President and CEO Carl Flora, Ranger Solar “believes that it is economically possible to make this happen, although [at the time of their June presentation] needed to figure out how to move the power into the markets where they would get the best price.”
If Ranger Solar can work through these issues, they will build solar equipment that could generate 10-100 megawatts of power. Acreage requirements are approximately five acres for one megawatt of power. The solar development company is hoping to utilize up to 500 acres of the former air force base’s land.
Flora has gone through a number of potential sites that Ranger Solar could utilize for the project.
“The sites are all relatively large contiguous areas. They could conceivably change, and other sites could prove to be better.”
One of the Flora’s major concerns is that these potential sites are all located within close proximity to the airport. Fortunately, Ranger Solar has agreed to conduct and potentially pay for a glint and glare analysis. These studies are a crucial component of the project, as there is a possibility for solar panel glare to temporarily blind a pilot.
Once the studies are complete, Flora believes that the board will have refined their site selection, allowing the project to begin.
In addition to land selection and glare, the board is also negotiating the financial aspects of the utility scale solar project.
“They originally asked us to do a land-lease for a fixed amount,” explained Flora. “We inquired about a royalty structure and they were receptive. Royalty places a little more risk on us in the sense that if something changes fundamentally in the electricity market and their revenue goes down, ours does too. On the other hand, if they should reap unexpected gains, we get the benefit of that as well.”
A significant drawback of the royalty-based system is that, since compensation is based on energy production as opposed to acres leased, Ranger Solar has no incentive to deter them from utilizing the maximum amount of acreage possible, even if those sections are not actually used for energy production.
“I’ve created an incentive for them to continue to make option fee payments as they get into the development phase, which is anywhere from 5 to 7 years,” said Flora, “and if they decide a particular site doesn’t work, they should drop it because it will save them some money.”
