What will become the largest solar panel farm in Alaska has broken ground on land in Houston, with plans to power 1,400 homes when energy flows starting next summer, developers say.
“We see lots of opportunity in Alaska,” said Julia Bell, CleanCapital commercial officer, on Monday. “There’s a lot of interest from utilities and stakeholders in having more renewables, so we’re really optimistic about it.”For now, the companies are focused on their Houston project, where crews have begun clearing land on a portion of a 160-acre tract west of the community’s junior and senior high school.
It will produce more than six times as much energy as the Willow project, nearly doubling the solar power output in Alaska, she said. The Houston project also will allow blueberry and cranberry bushes to grow between rows of panels, she said. It requires relatively little tree-clearing, since part of the land was scorched in the 1996 Miller’s Reach Fire.The Matanuska-Susitna Borough has signed a 34-year lease for the land, said Tracy McDaniel, the borough’s asset manager. The lease payments are relatively inexpensive during the development of the project, but later will be based on fair market value.
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