Algona, Iowa — Kossuth County officials are advancing a temporary moratorium on permits for the construction of solar farms. Kyle Stecker, chairman of the Kossuth County Board of Supervisors, read the resolution during a board meeting this week.
In early August, the Kossuth County Planning and Zoning Commission recommended that 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 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.
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.
