Prep Work at Massive Solar Site Begins; 600,000 Modules Coming

Representatives from the 7V Solar Ranch near Muldoon presented an update to the Fayette County Commissioners Court on Thursday, April 28.

The 300 megawatt solar power installation will be built on four sites spanning 1,600 acres in the Muldoon area. Tree clearing for the project has already begun. Builders will soon start constructing fences around the project areas along with internal roads. The framework for the solar modules will be installed this summer. Transformers and inverters will be installed in early 2023, according to the plans. The project should be complete by November 2023.

“We build solar farms all over the world,” said. Sandra Martinez of Grupo Ortiz, the construction company. “This is our first solar farm in America.”

Juan Benzal Medina, representing the project owner Naturgy, said the project will include 600,000 individual solar modules.

“Obviously there will be an impact on the roads,” he said. “There will be a significant amount of ground transportation. We expect to have all this equipment in by late November.”

Medina said Naturgy was having some trouble procuring those modules due to import tariff issues. The modules are being built in Vietnam, he said.

Bloomberg News reported in March that the U.S. Department of Commerce had launched an investigation into whether Chinese solar manufacturers were evading U.S. tariffs by assembling components in other Asian nations before export. Bloomberg said the investigation could result in increased duties for imported solar components. Longi, supplier of the solar modules for the 7V Solar Farm, is one of the companies under investigation.

“It is not a problem of procurement,” Medina told the Commissioners. “It’s more of a problem with the cost of procurement if we have a significant cost of the tariff to get the modules into the U.S.”

Pct. 3 Commissioner Harvey Berckenhoff advised the representatives about several upcoming bridge replacements around the 7V Solar Ranch. Martinez said a logistics official will coordinate routing with the county.