Solar farm project in Cape County stalls

Plans to construct a $200 million solar farm in Cape Girardeau County have apparently stalled because the project developer hasn’t found a market for the electricity the farm would generate.

NextEra Energy Resources of Juno Beach, Florida, announced plans in May to build the solar farm on 1,400 acres of farmland near Delta and said it could be operational within two to four years.

Once completed, NextEra Energy said the farm would produce up to 200 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 50,000 homes.

However, a company spokeswoman told the Southeast Missourian on Thursday “as of yet we have not secured a buyer” for the power the farm will generate.

In the meantime, NextEra Energy project director Danell Herzig said “we are continuing to develop the project and are actively marketing it to potential customers.”

Those “potential customers” could include utility companies such as Ameren Missouri, municipalities and/or industrial consumers.

Although Ameren Missouri has not indicated whether it has been contacted by NextEra Energy or whether it is interested in purchasing solar-generated electricity, it told the Missourian in an email it “supports the development of renewable energy, especially projects based here in Missouri.”

The Ameren Missouri statement went on to say the company is “investing approximately $1.2 billion in 700 megawatts of wind energy across the state, which is expected to be in service by the end of this year” and “the addition of at least 100 megawatts of solar energy by 2027.”

According to Herzig, once a buyer (or buyers) for NextEra Energy’s electricity is identified, the company could move forward with a project construction timeline, but until then “we do not yet have ... potential construction start dates.”

Herzig said it isn’t unusual for negotiations with potential buyers to take six months or so to complete.

“Timelines can vary greatly,” she said.

The site under consideration for the solar farm is just to the northeast of Delta on farmland bordered by County Road 244 on the north and Highway 25 to the south. The site encompasses several parcels of land owned by about a half-dozen families who are reportedly begin given the option of either leasing or selling their property to NextEra Energy.

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