Morrow County approves Wagon Trail Energy Center pilot agreement; commissioner recuses

Morrow County commissioners voted to approve and sign a pilot payment agreement for the Wagon Trail Energy Center, a project represented to the board by a NextEra Energy representative. The board also agreed to an additional, separate annual payment to the county weed department to support staffing and equipment.

The agreement was presented to the board by a NextEra Energy representative, who said the company modeled the pilot on existing county agreements and added the weed-department payment to “support a full time employee, keep up with inflation and any additional equipment.” Commissioner Gus Peterson declared a conflict of interest before discussion and did not participate in the vote.

The pilot agreement drew brief procedural questions about whether line-by-line comments from county staff (Mike Gorman and Eric Imes) were attached; the NextEra representative said staff comments had been incorporated into the final document. Commissioners asked for a timeline; the NextEra representative said the project is through state permitting and is bidding, but would not give a firm construction start date, citing contract negotiations and federal uncertainties.

Commissioners also discussed longer-term tax and payment issues around battery energy storage paired with solar projects. Commissioners asked staff to schedule a work session in April to examine whether pilot payments tied to installed solar megawatt capacity adequately capture value if battery storage capacity grows or solar output changes over time.

The motion to approve the Wagon Trail Energy Center pilot agreement passed. Commissioners specified implementation will include ongoing coordination with county public-works staff (Eric Imes) on administration of the weed-department payment.

The board said staff will follow up with project contacts and bring technical details to the April work session for further policy review.