The Evangeline Parish Police Jury held a Special Meeting on Tuesday night to review the Solar Ordinance Advisory Board’s proposed amendments.  Prior to the discussion, the public was invited to comment on agenda items.  Mr. Jayce Walker, the Director of Development with Recurrent Energy, spoke about the Zydeco Solar Project.  This project involves 1250 acres and 100 megawatts Alternate Current.    At this point, Recurrent has entered into agreements with MISO and CLECO, and their next step will involve requirements to make upgrades and a significant financial commitment.  Recurrent Energy is happy to see the Parish moving forward to finalize the Ordinance.

There was significant discussion about different provisions proposed by the Solar Panel Board and proposed changes from Recurrent Energy and Invenergy.  The primary concerns included the following:

1. Vegetation and Landscaping should include the requirement that plants are required to block the view not only from occupied residences, but also from Parish and State roads.
2. Requirement to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with a Landfill to accept waste in the event of a decommissioning.  The concern is that this is not reasonable, and there may be better options for recycling in the future.
3. There were concerns that the proposed decommissioning requirements were too many and too burdensome.  Recurrent walked through their red-line comments and proposed that these be approved with the recommendation that they be put in place until the State adopts its requirements, and then the Parish should adhere to the State’s provisions.
4. The question of who would the bonds be payable to, and the answer is to have them be in favor of the Parish until such time as the Department of Energy and Natural Resources regulates otherwise.
5. Recurrent also recommended that revisiting decommissioning costs, bonds, recycling and Environmental Site Assessments be scheduled for every 5 years.

Solar Board Member Richard Fontenot recommended that the Memorandum of Understanding remain in place for the Ordinance, and he agreed that most of the panel’s concerns about decommissioning were addressed by the suggested changes proposed by Recurrent.

The Board approved the Amended Ordinance as discussed, and scheduled a Public Hearing on October 2^nd at 6:00 PM.  The matter will come to the Board for a vote at the Regular Meeting scheduled for Monday, October 7^th.    There will also be a Public Hearing to adopt and name 4 lanes that have been maintained by the Parish on Monday, October 9^th at 4:30.