Renewable energy projects continue to pop up across the country, including in northeast Missouri.
Adair County is set to become home to the largest solar farm in Missouri soon.
When the project is complete, Applied Energy Services Project Developer David Stimson says it should be a great benefit to the county.
"Solar panels don't need classrooms, you don't need more fire stations, you don't need more police stations, you don't need more libraries," said David Stimson, AES Project Developer. "Once the project is operational, you'll get all of these tax benefits and all of these jobs having come through town without putting a strain on local resources or local infrastructure."
The solar farm is expected to generate $7.4 million in tax revenue and most of that will go to the Kirksville R-III School District.
"We're also hoping that the schools are excited about a project like this," Stimson said. "Once it's operational, we're happy to give tours of classrooms of the project to get them excited about renewable energy. That's an opportunity that I never really had growing up and I think that's becoming more and more common these days. You're starting to see more environmental science-type curriculum in schools."
In addition to the new revenue stream, the project is expected to create 660 new jobs during construction.
Once operational, there will be 6 to 10 employees monitoring the farm.
The farm will be located east of State Highway 3 near Troy Mills, Mo., and cover 1,400 acres toward the Kirksville Regional Airport.
Construction was expected to start in the coming months, but that is not the case anymore.
"We're just wrapping up our environmental studies now," Stimson said. "We plan to break ground actually next summer. So, sometime between May and August and we'll keep people updated as to when that is through venues like this and we'll also send out mailers as to when to expect us on site to those who live closest to the project. And then we expect the project to be operational, up and running and producing power by March of 2025."
When learning that the project wasn't going to start this year, we asked Adair County Presiding Commissioner Mark Shahan for his reaction to the construction delay.
"The way the weather is, I wouldn't blame them for wanting to wait and for us it'd be terrible right now if they would be starting a project such as that solar farm because of the impact on the roads," Shahan said. "We've got our road use agreement in place. It's not really going to affect us too much. We're just ready for whenever they do start."
Citing the long winter as a reason for delaying the project, KTVO wondered what would happen if the area experiences the same conditions this winter.
"We don't have any control over what they do as far as starting or not starting the project," Shahan said. "We're prepared, we have our road use agreement in place and that won't change. There's no expiration on that. So, when they're getting ready to start, that's when we'll start holding their feet to the fire making sure they maintain the structure and road infrastructure as they are or make them better."
The total cost of the project is over $300 million.
A map of where the farm will be located can be found below.