Energy firm eyes Moses Lake area for a solar farm

MOSES LAKE — A solar power farm may be coming to land northwest of Moses Lake.

Chicago-based Invenergy has applied for a permit to build a 120-megawatt solar power generating station on 713 acres northwest of Grant County International Airport.

Invenergy, which operates and develops wind, natural gas, solar and electricity storage in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Scotland and Poland, is no stranger to Eastern Washington. The company currently operates the 90-megawatt wind farm atop the hills overlooking Vantage, according to the company’s website.

The proposed solar farm is about one mile north of Road 10 NE and about two miles west of the airport, on land completely surrounded by parcels owned either by the U.S. Department of Interior or the Washington Department of Natural Resources.

On Monday, Grant County commissioners held a public hearing on the project to consider a mitigation agreement for local wildlife, according to Ron Sell, an associate planner with Grant County.

“The mitigation is required as part of the environmental review,” Sell said. “It covers grassland and so forth.”

Sell said according to the documents Invenergy has submitted, the company hopes to get started with construction as soon as the permits are approved, with some of the work done before the end of the year “to get some tax credits.”

Invenergy did not respond to requests for information prior to press time.