Developer outlines 200‑MW Stateline solar project and safety plans at Edgar County hearing; no decision

Edgar County held a public hearing Oct. 13 on Stateline Energy Center LLC’s request for a special‑use permit to build a 200‑megawatt commercial solar facility with an on‑site battery energy storage system on about 1,934 acres roughly 2.5 miles east of Paris.

The developer, represented by attorney Seth Upoff and senior development manager Ian Evans, presented a comprehensive application and witness testimony on project design, safety, noise and public‑health topics. The county board adopted hearing rules at the outset, admitted the developer’s written application as Exhibit 1 and a developer PowerPoint as Exhibit 2, and reserved a final decision for a later session; the hearing was recessed to Oct. 20 at 5:00 p.m. in Courtroom 1 of the Edgar County Courthouse.

The project as presented combines ground‑mounted solar arrays and a collocated battery energy storage system (BESS). "It is a solar and battery energy storage hybrid system," Ian Evans said, and he told the board the project would include about 15 acres for battery storage within the larger site. Evans said the developer expects the project to represent "a $400,000,000 capital investment into Edgar County," to create roughly 200 temporary construction jobs and to increase the local property‑tax base. He also stated the developer’s estimate that total property taxes over a defined period would be about $23 million, with roughly $13.3 million directed to local schools; he said a tax‑impact expert would testify later to those numbers.

Evans described site selection and mitigation measures: proximity to a high‑voltage transmission point of interconnection, planned setbacks that meet or exceed the county ordinance (including a 150‑foot minimum to nonparticipating residences and 50 feet to road rights‑of‑way), vegetative screening, locked gated access…