Christian Fiscal Court approved a resolution Tuesday morning that could help pave the way for a company to construct a 550-acre solar energy generation and storage facility in north Christian County.
It would be near a TVA transmission line in the Dogwood area of Christian County and Seth Wilmore with Oriden, a subsidiary Mitsubishi Power, told court land leases have already been obtained on 550 acres that would allow construction of the proposed facility.
It would create approximately 200 jobs for construction, but would likely only be about five new jobs once the facility began generating and storing solar power. Wilmore says the Dogwood Corners, LLC project is in the final stage of gaining acceptance from TVA for the project to proceed to construction.
Magistrates deadlocked on a 4-4 vote to table for a week the resolution that would establish a preliminary agreement for the county to later issue up to $220 million in bonds to assist with financing of the project, but Judge-Executive Steve Tribble broke the tie with a vote to proceed going ahead.
Ultimately, the court voted unanimously to approve the resolution and County Attorney John Soyars notes the matter will have to be revisited with an ordinance if the project comes to fruition.
The resolution and potential ordinance would not obligate the county or taxpayers financially, as it’s an incentive that helps Oriden get a better interest rate for its financing of Dogwood Corners.
In other business, fiscal court approved contracts to continue providing animal shelter services to Todd and Trigg counties at $12,500 annually—an increase from the current cost of $9,000.