Adams County approves Hanks Crossing solar and battery project, with wildlife and decommissioning conditions

The Adams County Board of County Commissioners on April 15 approved conditional use permits for the Hanks Crossing large-scale solar energy facility and an associated utility substation (PRC2024-4), a project that would occupy multiple parcels in eastern Adams County and connect to an existing transmission line along East 80 Eighth Avenue.

The board approved the permits after staff and the applicant described the project’s scale, mitigation measures and economic benefits. The Plenitude-led project would span multiple parcels totaling roughly 2,600–2,700 acres, with about 2,200 acres proposed for solar arrays and 355 megawatts of solar capacity paired with a 178-megawatt battery energy storage system, according to the project presentation by Jeremy Call of Logan Simpson and Patrick Brecken, director of development for Plenitude.

County planning staff told commissioners the requests are for a conditional use permit to allow a large-scale solar facility and a separate conditional use permit for a collector substation in the Agriculture-3 zone. Cody Spade, planner with the county’s community and…