The Prairie Sunlight Solar Project is a proposed $400+ million renewable energy project located in Franklin County, Kansas. Development of Prairie Sunlight Solar started with conversations with landowners and local stakeholders back in 2018. More than a dozen Franklin County families, farmers, and property owners have leased land for the project. Prairie Sunlight Solar is expected to generate more than 185 megawatts of clean, renewable electricity with energy storage. That’s enough electricity to power more than 26,000 average Kansas homes.
The project will also generate tens of millions of dollars in local property tax revenues over the life of the project. These stable, long-term property tax revenues will benefit local schools, libraries, emergency services, and community services for decades. The project will also provide a stable revenue source for the many participating family farms, allowing them to stay and prosper in the community and invest in their agricultural operations for future generations.
In addition to the unique long term economic benefits that the project will provide locally, Prairie Sunlight Solar will provide many environmental benefits for future generations. The project will provide domestic, clean and emissions free electricity to power the increasing energy needs of Kansas communities now and into the future. The project will be carefully sited, integrate pollinator friendly ground cover within the project area as well as install landscaping around portions of the project that will both better integrate the project into the local environment and provide additional wildlife friendly habitat. As a result of this planning, the land within the project will be preserved and improved for future agricultural use after project operations cease. Unlike other types of commercial, industrial, or residential developments, at the end of project operations, expected to be around 25-to-30-years, the project’s facilities will be removed as mandated by local ordinances, and the land returned to agricultural use.