Summit Lake Solar, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of National Grid Renewables Development, LLC, has submitted a Joint Site Permits Application to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission for a solar energy conversion facility and battery energy storage system in Nobles County's Summit Lake and Elk townships.
According to the state PUC application, the Summit Lake Solar Facility is proposed as a solar energy conversion facility with an up to 200-megawatt alternating current nameplate capacity. The battery energy storage system will consist of a stand-alone structure with an up to 200 MW / 800-megawatt hour (MWh) nameplate capacity and ancillary support infrastructure.
Summit Lake has lease agreements or purchase options in place for the entire 1,989.6-acre land control area. After issuance of the site permits and prior to construction of the project, Summit Lake will purchase a portion of the land control area from the underlying landowners with whom purchase options have been negotiated, and land under lease will enter into the construction and operations terms. Land that is under a lease agreement that will not be utilized for project operation will revert back to the underlying landowner for continued agricultural use.
Summit Lake is also pursuing participation agreements with landowners who are currently not participating in the project but are located within the Project boundary or are directly adjacent to the land control area. Outreach with these landowners has begun and is ongoing. Any land subject to a participation agreement will not be utilized for the installation or operation of Project facilities.
Summit Lake anticipates that the site permits will be issued in the first quarter of 2026. It also anticipates that construction will begin as early as the first quarter of 2026 with a targeted completion by the fourth quarter of 2028.
The Public Utilities Commission's initial comment period for the project closed Thursday. The reply comment period closes at 4:30 p.m. March 20, and the supplemental comment period closes at 4:30 p.m. March 25.
To learn much more about the proposal, visit https://apps.commerce.state.mn.us/eera/web/project-file/13376.
