(Radio Iowa) – Kossuth County officials are advancing a temporary moratorium on permits for construction of solar farms. Kyle Stecker, chairman of the Kossuth County Board of Supervisors, read the resolution during a board meeting this week. “Kossuth County has recently been approached by several entities interested in constructing several large-scale solar energy systems in the county,” he said. In early August, the Kossuth County Planning and Zoning Commission recommended the no permits be issued for large scale commercial solar arrays in the county for nine months, to give officials time to consider the impact of solar farms would have in the county.

The resolution Kossuth County supervisors have initially approved notes large arrays of solar panels require above and below ground transmission lines. “The installation of said systems necessarily impacts the county’s infrastructure, including roads and drainage facilities,” Stecker said as he read from the document. The supervisors voted for the moratorium this week, but a second and third round of voting is required before the moratorium would take effect. Luke Seaberg of Iowa State University Extension and Outreach met with Kossuth County officials in August to discuss his federally-funded research to explore the benefits and drawbacks of large scale solar at the county level. He was part of a public hearing this week before the Kossuth County Board of Supervisors voted on the ordinance.

The Grinnell College Solar farm, the largest privately owed solar farm in the state of Iowa May 19, 2022.
(Photo by Justin Hayworth/Grinnell College)

“The goal of the project is to help communities make more informed decisions regarding solar energy planning and ensure that if any projects do get built in your community that those projects reflect those communities’ values,” Seaberg says. Other counties are considering or have adopted rules for solar farms. In February, Pottawattamie County’s Board of Supervisors adopted an updated set of regulations for both wind and solar projects in the county.

A couple of years ago Linn County officials debated and ultimately approved a permit for a large scale solar farm at site of a former nuclear power plant near Palo. A nine-thousand panel solar array in Grinnell generates about a third of the electricity used on the Grinnell College campus.