Solar farm coming to north part of county

Milam County Commissioners met on Monday and approved creating reinvestment zones in the county to move forward with a solar farm that will be coming to the county.

County Judge Steve Young said the solar farm will be on about 5,000 acres in the Burlington area and the estimated cost of the project is around $500 million.

“This will be one of the largest solar farms in Texas,” Young said. “Solar is the wave of the future and with our access to the power lines that run from Alcoa north this project is great for us.”

Young said the county will create a reinvestment zone and then will work on tax abatement.

“This puts us on the edge of being green,” Young said. “I really like that idea.”

Derek Eugene with the project said the project has deep ties to the community and is one of the largest projects in the state. It will create over 600 Megawatts of power throughout the state. They hope this will be the beginning of a long-term relationship with the county with solar projects.

“This is very exciting and beneficial to the county,” Matt Humble, project coordinator said. 

“We have nothing to lose but a lot to gain.”

Young said construction will begin on the project in the first quarter of 2020 and it will create additional ad valorem and sales taxes for the county as well as additional jobs, especially during the construction phase.

Eugene said that during construction there will be about 200 jobs. He said it generally takes nine months to complete construction.

Humble said he selected tracks of land that were adjacent to the power lines that run through the north part of the county.

In other business commissioners also: approved the 2018 external audit by Singleton and Clark; approved posting 20 MPH speed limit signs in the Oak Park subdivision; approved abandoning a platted alley in Gause; approved a Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Application to the General Land Office and authorized the County Judge to act as executive officer; entered into an agreement with the City of Rockdale to implement terms and conditions of the Hurricane Harvey block grant; named Bren McClaren and D‘Ann Williams to Milam County Historical Commission; and tabled an offer to buy a block of property owned by the county next to the Law Office of Benton Watson.