Old Jackson Solar
Project
Originally, German and Romanian Solar Power Plant developers and investors created a shell company in Texas called GSE Eleven, LLC and planned to strip between 750-1000 acres of Van Zandt county land and install between 400,000 and 450,000 solar panels paid for with federal tax credits: your tax dollars. They want to sell the overpriced electricity to Oncor and cause your electricity prices to rise. The shell company was purchased by Pattern Development and renamed Old Jackson Solar so that they could hide under a shell company when this project fails. Pattern Development & Pattern Energy are Canadian owned.
Location / Size
This project is located south of Canton, off of Hwy 198 between Jackson and Whitton. It is scheduled to be almost 1,000 acres in size, with approximately 450,000 solar panels. They estimate on a perfect day, with perfect sunny weather, and the panels are completely clean, to generate 127 MW of energy.
Developers
Pattern Energy has a history of failures, financially failing as Babcock and Brown in 2009, the Ocotillo project in California, and the El Arrayán Wind project. With such a poor record, why are City of Canton and Van Zandt County officials still backing this project? It is not even located in the City of Canton, but the Canton Chamber of Commerce and Canton EDC have welcomed them with open arms.
How To Protect Yourself
This is an industrial solar facility. Imagine seeing almost half a million of these panels every day as you drive down 1651. Then, wondering what will happen to your land and livestock surrounding it. Contact your County Commissioners and ask them to oppose this project and protect the citizens of Van Zandt County. Then ask City of Canton officials, The Canton Chamber of Commerce, and Canton EDC to fight against this project that will put the burden on the backs of county residents outside of Canton! Their actions or inactions are important.
Here is how to contact them.
There is no guarantee of an adequate tax return to the county, safety of the surrounding property, or cleanup after the plant expires or is damaged. The only guarantee is that the Canadian company behind this will make a big profit at the expense of Van Zandt County residents.