Farmweld seeks approval of solar power plan

Apr. 28—Lori Runde of Farmweld appeared before the Teutopolis Public Health, Safety and Water Committee Thursday to share the company's plans for a solar following the village board's approval of a solar ordinance earlier this month.

Some residents who attended the meeting in early April argued that the ordinance was too restrictive, prompting the board to set a committee meeting in which member would consider potential amendments.

During the subsequent Public Health, Safety and Water Committee meeting, members heard from Runde, who discussed the company's plans for a ground-mounted solar system.

"We would like to put in a 318 kilowatt ground mount solar system at Farmweld," Runde said

Teutopolis Village President David Repking, who sat in on the meeting, explained that under the village's new solar ordinance, Farmweld wouldn't be able to move forward with the project without first requesting a variance.

"Tony and I went out to visit Lori at Farmweld last week, and what we've written in here as far as the maximum wattage is not going to be enough," Repking said.

According to plans from Utopian Power that Runde shared, the solar system will be approximately 41,500 square feet and will be located adjacent to the railroad tracks next to Farmweld as well at Highway 40. But Runde told committee members that Farmweld would landscape in front of it to reduce its visibility from the road.

Runde told the committee that Farmweld has applied for a "sizable grant" through the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Energy for America Program.

"I'm not sure when we will here on that, but we would like to get confirmation and hear if we qualify for the REAP grant before we do this project because it's up to 40% of the cost of the project," she said.

Runde explained that the recent rise in electricity rates is what let Farmweld to consider building such a large solar system.

"Our electricity rates have doubled since last year," Runde said. "Since June of 2022, we went from paying about 6 cents a kilowatt to 12 cents a kilowatt. All our machines take a lot of electricity and we can't be competitive with the current cost of electricity."

Furthermore, Runde argued that the hardship caused by having to pay these high electricity bills meets the criteria required for a variance for the project.

"This could result in a lot of difficult issues for us if we've gotta continue to pay these type pf electricity bills each month," she said.

According to the proposal Farmweld received from Utopian Power, the solar system won't cover all of Farmweld's electricity usage, but it will cover roughly 90% of it.

"The ground mount solar energy system on business property shall be no larger than a 75 kilowatt system," Teutopolis Village Trustee Jane Summers said, quoting the solar ordinance.

Additionally, Summers explained that the village's new solar ordinance does not allow solar systems to be on more than one lot.

"What I see as two variances is the size of it and the fact that you're going on two lots, even though you guys own it," she said.

The committee considered changing the maximum wattage requirement in the ordinance, but concluded that increasing the limit could lead to potential problems for the village.

"We put the 75 because then those people have to come in and talk to us with what they're going to do and we want to make sure that it's going to work and it's not going to be ascetically disturbing," Teutopolis Village Trustee Dave Tegeler said. "And we were trying to prevent solar farms."

Members of the committee referred the matter to Teutopolis Village Attorney Tracy Willenborg.

The board said once they heard back from Willenborg they would let Lori know what Farmweld's next step will be.

Nick Taylor can be reached at nick.taylor@effinghamdailynews.com or by phone at 618-510-9226 or 217-347-7151 ext. 300132.