Solar farm making waves in the community, but moving ahead

Rob Mills
The Imperial Republican
If you live in Nebraska, you know the state is populated with farms, agricultural farms that is. Very soon, a different type of farm, rooted in 21st century technology will serve the Imperial area.
The Imperial City Council recently gave the nod to Sandhills Energy, a renewable energy company based in Omaha’s Old Market, to develop and build a solar energy project, aka “solar farm” for the Imperial area.
The facility is part of a program that consists of 16 solar energy projects in Nebraska, Iowa and Colorado.
The financing for the solar farms comes from a thirty-million-dollar grant designated by the USDA, for eight communities in Nebraska, and four in both Iowa & Colorado. These communities will benefit from the solar energy generated by the farms. The money that will pay for all of this came from the Inflation Reduction Act, which became law in 2022.
The construction phase of the solar energy project began in June 2024, when groundbreaking ceremonies were held for facilities to be based in Sidney and Alliance.
In the Husker state, the development and building of solar energy farms is under the oversight of the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska (MEAN). Commenting through a press release, MEAN Executive Director Bob Poehling said, “these projects align with our 2050 carbon neutral vision, as guided and approved by our Board of Directors.”
Besides providing solar power for the Imperial area and parts of three states, then Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack also pointed out when the funding was approved, that the multi-faceted nature of the program would spin off multiple benefits for the residents of Nebraska, Iowa and Colorado.
Vilsack commented in August 2024 that the grant money provided for the solar farm construction would “lower energy costs for consumers, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen the nation’s energy grid.”
The solar power program met with resistance locally and in several counties statewide in Nebraska.
Chase County Commissioner Billie Muehlenkamp told the Republican in an e-mail, that “I can’t say that I am “anti-solar”. But I wanted to see this process slow down. At the end of the day, I felt we needed to feel confident that we have educated ourselves enough to believe the solar farm would not be detrimental to Chase County,” Muehlenkamp said.
But with the approving nod given by the Imperial City Council for the project, all systems are go for the solar farm to be built.
The Nebraska communities that will be receiving solar energy through the USDA funded endeavor are Imperial, Alliance, Crete, Gering, Sidney, Ansley, Pender and Stuart which will partner with Denver, Iowa to create what is described as an “economical, long term energy supply.”
The aggressive stance of the Biden Administration to implement solar energy will make its mark over the next decade, regardless of who is in the White House, and whether you live in Imperial, Nebraska or anywhere in the United States.
But one industry observer told the Republican that when it comes to energy delivery in the next decade, that the more things change, there will still be vestiges of the past, that will be pumping electrical power to homes and businesses.
“Poles & wires are still how most customers will receive their electrical power,” she said.
But then she added that in many ways, the future is now.  “There is a transition taking place to modernize the power grid and the overall system.  The resources our power comes from are going to change.”
Changes fueled in part by the resource of solar energy, which locally will be produced by the Imperial solar farm, powering locations in Nebraska and throughout the United States.