Solar plant planned west of GR

A 640-acre solar-energy project, which would be located 11 miles northwest of Green River, is attempting to get off the ground in Sweetwater County.

The project is being fronted by Sweetwater Solar, LLC., a subsidiary of the Hanwha Group, a company that manufactures solar cells and develops solar energy projects. Betsey Biesty, a representative of the Hanwha Group, said the company is from South Korea and has been involved in more than 35 utility-scale projects.

The company works primarily in petrochemicals and operates a number of hotels and shopping malls in South Korea as well. The company operates smaller solar farms in Hawaii, California, Canada and Mexico, as well as others across Europe and east Asia.

The project would be built on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau or Reclamation and other sections owned by the Rock Springs Grazing Association.

The project would generate 80 megawatts of electricity, which is expected to mostly be used by the mines and plants in the area. Along with the 640-acre plant, a power transmission line would be built to follow nearby Highway 372 to an already-existing substation nearby.

The company is currently in the pre-application process with the BLM for a right-of-way permit, having recently completed studies involved with the biological baseline of the area and a cultural pedestrian survey.

Other reviews needed for the project include an environmental review, a study on potential glare hazard from the solar panels and spring nesting surveys.

The county will have a say in the process as well, as the project will need a conditional use permit from the county.

Once the permitting is completed, Biesty said the construction should take about a year to complete, including four or five months of heavy construction at the facility. The facility is expected to have a 30-year lifespan once it starts operations.

The solar farm will be the first built in the county if construction takes place. The facility would employ between two and four full-time employees to monitor the solar farm and would utilize another group of people to wash the solar panels twice a year.

Some concern about the project was recently raised by the Wyoming Mining Association, claiming the solar farm would utilize land under mineral lease. Biesty said the land the Hanwha Group plans to use has only been used in grazing allotments in the past, claiming the land is neither undermined or under mineral lease.

Sweetwater County Commissioners speaking about the project were supportive of the company’s plan, asking to be kept abreast of developments during the BLM’s process. Commissioner Wally Johnson said he supports solar energy as an alternative energy sourse.

“This is good for the county and for the residents,” Commissioner Randy Wendling said.