In an effort to bring more transparency and information to the landowners in Lamar County who might be affected by the Minkar Solar farm project, a list of questions was sent in to BP officials.
Many of the landowners in the area are strongly opposed to the project and have spoken out against it at town hall meetings and in online forums, including the circulation of a petition. The most recent meeting, which was scheduled for October 26 in Purvis, was canceled at the last minute by BP officials because of alleged safety reasons.
As a follow-up, these questions were sent in the day after the meeting was canceled and postponed:
The following is a list of those questions and the answers, which were provided by Josh Hicks, who serves as U.S. media relations manager for BP.
Q: Which parcel(s) of land, specifically, are being used to build the solar farm in Lamar County?
A: All of the land that would be used for this project is privately-owned by Soterra.
Q: How many properties will the farm be able to supply with solar energy, and where will those properties be?
A: The site is expected to produce approximately 125 MWdc, which is enough energy to power more than 19,000 homes.
The electricity from solar farms typically flows into the local electric grid, where it mixes with electricity from other sources. Sometimes the electricity from a particular source is “earmarked” for a specific business customer, but the addition of electricity to the system benefits the whole grid and its users.
In this case, energy would flow into the power grid for Mississippi Power Company and anyone who buys from them.
Q: When will residents or business owners be able to see a direct result from this project, such as a reduction in rates in the form of lower utility costs? Also, how does your company work with the public utilities and those officials who oversee those commissions, to ensure that rate payers are seeing a return on the investment?
A: Ratepayers are not investing in Minkar Solar. BP is funding the project, providing the capital expenditures to build and operate it.
Utility-scale solar PV is the least costly option for new electricity generation in a significant majority of countries worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency. Ultimately, the Mississippi Public Service Commission regulates utility rates for customers of investor-owned utilities such as the Mississippi Power Company.
Q: How long do you expect the project to take to build out from start to finish, and how long will the solar farm be in operations?
A: Projects of this size typically take 12 months to construct and are expected to be in operation for 40 years.
Q: When is the project scheduled to go online?
A: The schedule depends on the permitting process. We anticipate construction would begin no earlier than 2025, with the project going online sometime thereafter.
Q: Which positions, specifically, will you be hiring for locally? How many direct, indirect and induced jobs can we expect out of this project and what can we expect to see in terms of those salaries?
A: 150-250 direct construction jobs, the majority of which will be filled by the local labor force. We are working on an economic impact study and will have more data to share when that is completed.
Q: Do you guys have any affiliation with the Plant morrow project and if so, what?
A: No.
Q: How are you working with other local industry leaders, like Cooperative Energy, Mississippi Power, Dixie Electric, our industrial park, the Area Development Partnership, cities, counties and other entities in our area?
A: The project will interconnect with the Mississippi Power Company and (we have) been working with the Mississippi Power Company to advance our interconnection position, which is a multi-year process. In addition, the project has been working with Lamar County for local permitting and ADP for economic development, similar to any other types of economic development activity in the county.
Q: What made you choose Lamar County for this project?
A: We’ve selected the Minkar project site based on sufficient solar resource, availability of interconnection to the grid, and opportunity to produce energy at an economic price. Together, these provide the opportunity for Mississippi to benefit from low carbon energy and additional electricity generation for its grid.
Q: Will the land be bought outright, or will eminent domain be used to obtain the property?
A: For all of our solar projects, bp either leases the land being used or is the owner of the land being used. For the Minkar Solar project, we will be leasing the land from Soterra. We do not use eminent domain for our solar projects and only work with willing landowners.
Q: Is this considered a megasite? If so, is it the Forrest/Lamar Eagle One Megasite that has been on the market for a decade and promoted by the ADP in partnership with the Forrest/Lamar alliance?
A: No, the project is a private project and not affiliated with the Eagle One megasite.
Q: Will the solar panels be manufactured here in our industrial park or elsewhere? If elsewhere, please cite the location for manufacturing and whether that location is within the United States or not.
A: We’re planning to use panels manufactured by US-based First Solar.
Q: Will BP be utilizing any tax credit incentives for the project and if so what are the figures on that?
A: Much like fossil fuel projects, some solar projects are frequently eligible for federal tax credits, referred to as Investment Tax Credits. These credits reduce the amount of federal taxes a company owes, similar to an individual taxpayer who can claim an independent on a personal tax return or deduct interest payments on a home mortgage.
(Because) the project is in early stages, we are not able to provide information about its eligibility for federal tax credits.
