LOWNDES COUNTY, MS – Courtesy of the Dispatch
MS Solar 5, a branch of solar energy company Origis Development, is in talks to discuss a deal that could bring a $2 million solar power plant, and its attendant jobs and tax revenue, to Lowndes County. The idea still needs to get approved by the TVA before moving forward, but prospects look bright. “If Origis and TVA come to terms, then this project will happen,” GTR LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins said. He went on to say that, should the project get approved, construction could be underway as soon as this SPring, and the plant could be ready to provide power by Fall 2020.
The eventual plan for the solar farm is to get it to the point where it could generate 350MW of power annually – to put that in perspective, that’s enough to run Steel Dynamics’ facility all on its own; SD is the TVA’s biggest customer.
The solar farm, if built, would initially generate 200 megawatts each year, with the potential of further expansion to reach an annual rate of 350 megawatts in the future, Higgins said.
The site, planned to cover hundreds of acres, would be located west of Charleigh Ford Drive and go all the way south to the northern border of the Infinity Megasite, Higgins said.
“It’s gonna pay about $400,000 in taxes to Lowndes County (each of the first 10 years under the fee-in-lieu agreement),” Higgins said, “and it’s gonna pay more than that… probably close to $500,000 in county school taxes each year.”
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