West Plains to Expand Municipal Solar Farm

To expand its energy resources while lowering costs for West Plains utility customers, a massive project will soon be underway to ensure the City of West Plains’ ability to provide sufficient power for the foreseeable future.

 

That project – a solar farm – will be located on 40 acres of property owned by the City of West Plains near its landfill north of town, and after its construction will be the largest municipal-owned solar farm in the state of Missouri.

 

Public Works Director Jeff Hanshaw, who is working on the project in conjunction with Evergy out of Kansas City, has long sought a solution to producing enough energy for the City’s customers that is safe, clean, reliable, and affordable. He believes a solar farm offers such a solution.

 

“First of all, there are major questions about the future availability of power from the Sikeston Power Station, which supplies coal-generated power to West Plains,” said Hanshaw. “Because of its geographic location in the Ozarks, West Plains is not suitable for other forms of renewable energy. To become one of the first carbon-free cities in Missouri, we must utilize a resource that is abundant. In our case, that is solar energy.”

 

As planned, the West Plains Solar Farm would generate 8 Megawatts of electricity, which is enough energy to power over 1,440 homes annually and produce 7 percent of the City’s current annual usage. Evergy would construct the farm for the City of West Plains, and in essence would bear the cost of the project for the first eight years. During that time, the City who would enter into a 30-year fixed Power Purchase Agreement with Evergy that includes a buyout option in the eighth year of the agreement.