Commissioners hear latest solar updates from VS Engineering

According to Timothy Hollandsworth from VS Engineering, it has been a busy three weeks since he last met with the Pulaski County Commissioners. He shared his lengthy report with them on July 6. He started off with updates on the Mayapple Solar project and the American Electric Power (AEP) Star substation, which will connect the project to the power grid. During site visits and discussions with county staff, concerns were raised regarding their road use, impacts to the drainage and other things they are responsible for. Hollandsworth said that road impacts have been observed on portions of county roads serving in that project area. VS is working closely with highway superintendent Gary Kruger, Building Inspector Karla Redweik, Attorney Jacob Ahler, AEP, Black and Veatch and Lightsource to determine how this work needs to be administered. One of the primary issues identified was a disconnect between what the parties believe the project was operating. Black and Veatch had indicated that they believed they were under the Mayapple permit and in turn, the road use agreement, with Lightsource. Lightsource later clarified that AEP and Black and Veatch are not parties of their road use. Once that discrepancy was made clear, the county moved forward with a stop work order and it is still in place as of the time of the meeting.