Solar Farm Progresses in Beardstown

By Benjamin Cox on October 14, 2020 at 11:28am

Savion Energy’s solar farm project near Beardstown is progressing forward with construction. Cass County Board Chairman Michael Barnett says that engineers are planning at the site currently: “I’ve had a recent conversation with Savion. They have currently hired a contractor to go in and do some soil sampling, and also they are going to start driving some piles to see how solid the soil is, how far and deep they have to go, so it’s proceeding well.”

The construction of the project is expected to create approximately 200 temporary jobs once it is in full swing. Savion Development Director Courtney Timmons said back in July that the project’s economic impact of $100-150 million capital investment would generate $15-20 million in tax revenue in Cass County over the project’s anticipated 30-year lifespan.

Barnett says Savion is also making strides to sell the projected generated power prior to solar farm being online sometime within the next year: “About 3 weeks ago, they were in negotiations with Ameren to buy their power. I believe they are also in negotiations with the City of Springfield. Between those two entities, I think they will have their power sold by the time construction starts and that was one of their goals. It’s all coming along very rapidly.”

According to Savion, the project is supposed to be online by 2022 depending upon if all the generated power for the project is able to be sold.