KC Star: Independence community solar farm proposed
A proposed community solar farm in Independence, if approved by city officials, would be the largest in the Kansas City area.
The Independence City Council will hear details during a Monday night study session.
The three megawatt facility would generate renewable energy for Independence Power & Light, the city-owned utility.
Proposed for a site on East Salisbury Road, east of Missouri 291 and just south of the Independence Athletic Complex, the project is contingent upon the utility agreeing to purchase electricity from MC Power, the Lee’s Summit firm that would build the facility. MC Power also would need to sell 25 percent of the project’s electricity in five-year blocks before construction would begin.
Independence has operated its own electric utility since 1901 and long has burned coal at two of the state’s older coal-burning plants.
Last year the city council approved a resolution encouraging the utility to generate 10 percent of its energy with non-carbon-based sources, unlike coal or natural gas, by 2018.
The new solar farm could bring the utility’s renewable energy production to about 13 percent.
The renewable energy price would be slightly more expensive than what residential customers are now paying, said Leon Daggett, a utility director.
