Puttman has a brief scare in the fiscal court meeting
A representative of the Unbridled Solar Farm said the company’s panels have sustained 32 bullet holes from people shooting at them during an update Tuesday morning to Henderson County Fiscal Court.
Otherwise, the presentation given by Jeremy Harms, who works for Geronimo Power, detailed the basics of normal operations.
The project encompasses some 1,500 acres and 400,000 solar panels, according to a past Hendersonian article. Geronimo Power is the name taken after an acquisition and rebranding of National Grid Renewables, which had been the name of the company associated with the project.
Harms said based on inspections of the bullet holes, it appears the shots were fired in the evening hours.
He also said that about 4,000 panels were damaged by a March hail storm, and those panels have been sent to a recycling center in Arizona where the glass will be melted down and separated.
Much of Harms’ presentation read like a normal bullet point update of a project. He said the 160 MW solar farm went commercial on Feb. 10 and is currently running at 98% availability.
Since the solar farm went commercial, it has produced 167,000 megawatts, an amount Harms said is enough to “produce for 15,000 homes.”
And he said the solar farm should be complete by October.
Roughly three miles of roads near the project are set to be repaired, which Harms said contractor Black Arts Paving has been hired to complete. The start date is Sept. 8 on the north side of the site, he said.
In response to a question from Judge-Executive Brad Schneider about the project’s vegetative buffer, which is a requirement according to county zoning regarding solar energy systems, Harms said that a handful of trees have died and the contractor who planted them will replant before the winter. Part of the reasoning given for enacting a two-year moratorium on any new solar projects last winter was to determine if the vegetative buffer of this project and the nearby Sebree Solar would fill out and provide adequate screening.
Harms also spoke about high grass challenges, saying heavy rains, heat and more rain in the spring and summer caused grass and weeds to grow more quickly than expected. Next year, herbicide will be sprayed along the fence line and junction boxes to handle weeds better.
Finally, Harms said he met with Robards Fire Department officials and did a run through of the solar panels, voltages and what to expect if there’s a thermal event. The main concern with a fire within the project’s fence line is for the property the company doesn’t own, he said. The fire department’s priority is to make sure the property outside the project’s fences is safe, he said, and added that officials are in talks with his company to ensure fire departments have needed equipment.
In other news at the fiscal court meeting, Magistrate Butch Puttman appeared to faint in the middle of the meeting. When his name was called for a vote, he didn’t respond, and when he was nudged, he was dazed upon waking.
He was helped to a room outside the courthouse and was assisted by Coroner Shelia Patterson and Sheriff Chip Stauffer. Puttman later returned to the meeting, and after it, he said he was fine and low blood sugar had cause the episode.
