Interested parties meeting set for Jan. 10 to discuss upcoming Truman Cypress Solar Project

The City of Columbia has scheduled a second interested parties meeting to receive public input about the Truman Cypress Solar Project for Thursday, Jan. 10 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Conference Room 1C at City Hall, 701 E. Broadway.  This project will increase the share of the City of Columbia’s electric supply coming from renewable energy sources. Representatives of City of Columbia Utilities will be available to discuss the project and answer questions about the proposed work. 

The City of Columbia would like to increase the amount of electricity coming from renewable sources. Plans are being developed by a company called Cypress Creek Renewables (ccrenew.com) to build a 10 megawatt photovoltaic solar panel farm on two tracts of land totaling 140 acres owned by Dunlop Development LLC, east of Burnside Drive and south of I-70 Drive SE.  

To bring the 10 megawatts of new electricity into Columbia, the Water & Light Department is proposing to build two underground 13.8KV three-phase electric feeders from the solar farm to points of connection with the existing 13.8KV Rebel Hill Substation feeders RH211 on St. Charles Road east of Elderbrook Drive, and RH224 on Copse Court, north of Maple Leaf Drive.  The new feeders will be installed in existing easements wherever possible, although some new easements will be needed to cross privately owned land to complete the project. The first interested parties meeting for this project was held on Nov. 6, 2018.

The next step after this interested parties meeting will be a public hearing at City Council to authorize construction of the two underground electric Rebel Hill circuits.  If the project is then approved by Council, it will be placed on a later Council agenda for authorization to negotiate for easements needed for the construction of the underground electric feeder lines.

It is predicted that the new Rebel Hill substation circuit feeder extensions will be completed and energized by the end of 2019, coinciding with the completion of the solar generation facility.

For questions or comments regarding this project, please contact Dan Clark at 573.874.7738 or by email at [email protected].