City Council action Monday cleared the way for another large solar project in this area.
The council approved a lease agreement with Soltage for 22 acres the city owns along Fischer Avenue south of Pleasant View Cemetery.
There is an escalator clause in the lease agreement, so the company’s payments will change over time, City Manager Gary Bradey said. He said the city will receive considerably more for the land than it has received from leasing it as farm ground.
Soltage, based in Jersey City, N.J., delivers “high quality, low-risk clean energy assets,” according to the company’s website. The company has more than 450 megawatts of alternative energy production under its ownership and operation, the site says.
The site also features photos of large solar arrays the company manages.
A spokesman for Soltage did not return calls from The Kewanee Voice seeking comment on the company’s plans.
Bradley pointed out that Kewanee and Henry County are front-runners in the clean energy movement, with two ethanol plants, two wind farms and many solar installations.
If the Soltage plans come through, their project would join large solar installations planned on the former Kewanee Boiler property and the Lininger Industrial Park, as well as a solar installation on Kewanee School District property near Belle Alexander School. School buildings in both the Kewanee and Wethersfield districts also have solar installations, and Wethersfield will have the area’s first electric school bus.
Power to charge the bus’s battery will come from a solar installation on school property.
The Kewanee Park District is also utilizing solar, with large installations at Baker Park and Northeast Park.
