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Robinson Gets First Solar Farm, Other Renewable Energy Companies Take Interest In Central Texas

(Kateleigh Mills/KWBU Radio)
Workers test solar panels in Robinson's first solar farm off Greig Ave.

A solar farm in Robinson may soon be online as construction is scheduled to be completed this fall. 

Solar panels line up in diagonal and horizontal rows in what until recently was pastureland. The panels are mounted on thick poles, so they can rotate along with the Sun’s movement. 

This project is Robinson’s first solar farm. The city partnered Cypress Creek Renewables to designate building a more than 50-acre solar farm off Greig Avenue. 

“Being our first we're sending a signal that we’re open for business for other companies to come to Robinson," Jimmy Rogers, city councilman of Robinson, said. 

Rogers said the project first came across his desk when Precinct 1 County Commissioner Kelly Snell asked if there was any land in town that was close to a substation. 

“I suggested a few and he made some contacts and got the two together – the property owner and the solar company together," Rogers said. 

He said it went quiet for a couple months until Cypress Creek Renewables approached Robinson City Council about zoning requests and tax abatements. 

The City of Robinson and McLennan County ended up working with the company to provide an initial 55-percent tax abatement, which allows the property tax to be reduced for about a 5-year period.

“Each year that changes, that will help offset some of the costs that the solar farm has to incur due to property taxes and just helps with the economics of bringing a new technology," Rogers said. 

He said rezoning the land from agricultural to commercial will increase the revenue brought in from the property over time.  

“So we don’t necessarily spend any money up front, but we’re not going to collect as much until the abatement period is over and then we’ll be collecting at the full tax rate," Rogers said. 

Although revenue will increase from rezoning the property, the solar farm won’t bring a large number of jobs to the area. 

When deciding on whether to enter into an abatement, Rogers said the council have to meet certain criterion in order to agree - and jobs are a big factor. He said there was a lot of discussion on the abatement because the solar farm will only bring a handful of people to manage the site. 

“This is not just about Robinson, this is about our environment and helping grow a market for clean energy and I felt that it had a little bit more of a larger cause than jobs," Rogers said. 

Rogers said they want to attract businesses that are going to bring an increase in property values, sales tax rebates and jobs to the community. The solar farm will be close to an industrial park, which might encourage other companies to put down roots in Robinson. 

Snell said the project in Robinson was initially slated for Moody, but the site’s substation took too much money to improve. 

“So the next place in my precinct that we found one was in Robinson and that substation had to have some upgrades but not where it was detrimental to the project where it wouldn’t work," Snell said. 

The solar farm is the second in Snell’s precinct.  The other is in Bruceville-Eddy which has a 10-megawatt capacity, double the size of the Robinson project. 

“And the nice thing about a solar farm is, is that's renewable energy that is peak in the day time when all the air conditioners are running, and so it helps with your brownouts and your black outs," Snell said. 

Nicko Keene is a senior developer with Cypress Creek Renewables, which has been expanding their projects in Texas for over 4 years. 

He said the company typically starts working with local utilities to find spots to interconnect into the distribution grid.  

Keene said because McLennan County helped develop the Bruceville-Eddy solar farm they wanted to work again with county and city leaders for the Robinson project. The Bruceville-Eddy solar farm also received a tax abatement from McLennan County.  

“It provides a stable source of tax income for the county for the life of the project and provides the project with a small amount of tax relief in the early years," Keene said. 

Cypress Creek has about 20 operational projects delivering power into the grid in Texas and about 10 transition projects that are in various stages of development. 

Keene said the solar farm in Robinson will be able to power about 640 homes. The product in Bruceville-Eddy will be sold through NRG Energy which is headquarted in Houston. The contract for Robinson has yet to be announced. 

Keene said Texas is an attractive market for solar for a number of reasons. 

“Purely from a development standpoint there’s not too many barriers to entry," Keene said. "You know typically there aren’t the zoning laws you would have in some other states like North Carolina or Illinois or New York. “ 

Keene also said Texas is a liquid market where there are a lot of buyers and sellers of electricity, which he said is a recipe for an attractive place to develop.  

Solar isn’t the only clean energy source coming to McLennan County. 

McLennan County Commissioners approved tax breaks for a $330 million dollar wind farm in both McLennan and Limestone counties with project developer Engie North America. The wind farm abatement deal will last 10 years. 

Commissioner Snell said there is also a separate company looking to build a third solar farm in County Precinct 4 that will be in both McLennan and Bosque Counties. 

Kateleigh joined KWBU in January 2019. She is an Oklahoma native that is making the move to Waco after working as an All Things Considered host and producer at affiliate KOSU Radio in Oklahoma City. She is a former NPR Next Generation Radio Fellow, a Society of Professional Journalists award winner, an Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame recipient for ‘Outstanding Promise in Journalism’ and the Oklahoma Collegiate Media Association’s 2017 recipient for ‘College Newspaper Journalist of the Year.’ After finishing up her journalism degree early she decided to use her first year out of college to make the transition from print media to public radio. She is very excited to have joined KWBU and she is looking forward to all the opportunities it will bring - including providing quality journalism to all Texans.