BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — Solar developer Savion Energy is moving forward with a proposed second merchant solar electric generating facility in Martin County. Lynn Bark Energy Center LLC advertised a public notice saying that by May 31 it would be filing an application with the Kentucky State Board on Electric Generation and Transmission Siting for approval to construct an up to 200-megawatt facility.
The Lynn Bark project proposes to use the space of 1,514 acres on former Martin County Coal property in the Lynn Bark area. Portions of the land contain forests.
The project includes approximately 357,588 photovoltaic solar panels, associated racking, approximately 51 inverters, a project substation transformer and other equipment.
Savion hosted a public meeting in Inez in January and presented details about the project. Figures at that time were different from those stated in the current public notice. In January, the official notice stated 490,566 solar panels instead of 357,588. It stated 88 inverters instead of 51 and 1,497 acres instead of 1,514.
Lynn Bark will interconnect with Kentucky Power’s 138-kilovolt Inez Substation at Martiki.
Erich Miarka, director of development at Savion Energy, confirmed in January that the Lynn Bark site is about 3-1/2 miles, “as the crow flies,” from the Martin County Solar Project. He said Lynn Bark would “serve the Kentucky Power/AEP power grid.”
Lynn Bark Energy Center LLC, organized in June 2023, has a website containing information on the proposed project: lynnbarkenergycenter.com.
The Kentucky Public Service Commission has assigned Lynn Bark’s application “Case No. 2024-00104.”
Part of the approval process at the Siting Board is to evaluate the economic impact of the project on the community. This involves a discussion of jobs, purchases from the local community, the multiplier effect of capital investment and property taxes.
Miarka said in January that it was too soon to discuss industrial revenue bonds and a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) with the Martin County Fiscal Court. He said the cost of the Lynn Bark project was not yet determined.
In connection with the issuance of an industrial revenue bond, the solar company transfers the project assets to the county. Then it enters into a lease for those assets, exempting them from taxes.
With a PILOT, the solar company must pay 100% of school taxes. It will negotiate an amount to pay the county’s general fund.
Other solar project at Martiki
Savion Energy is a Shell Group portfolio company headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. The developer began site work and construction of the $231-million Martin County Solar Project at Martiki in October 2023. That project is in in two stages. Phase 1 involves the construction of a 111-megawatt facility, while Phase 2 will add 89 megawatts.
In May 2023, Toyota announced it would offtake 100 megawatts of the electricity generated by MCSP.
The MCSP’s journey started in 2020 with a $600,000 sales tax incentive through the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act. Its next early step was Martin County Fiscal Court’s resolution for industrial revenue bonds not to exceed “$300 million.”
The county agreed to a payment in lieu of taxes at the rate of $1,500 per megawatt.
In December 2021, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority approved the industrial revenue bond for $231 million. In May 2023, Miarka attended a Martin County Fiscal Court meeting where the court adopted two new resolutions for industrial revenue bonds for the Martin County Solar Project. The county authorized up to $350 million ($190 million for Phase 1 and $160 million for Phase 2).