On Thursday, Lamar County celebrated the commencement of Ørsted’s Mockingbird Solar Center – a 468 megawatt solar project located just down the road from Paris, Texas.
On [November 21], Lamar County celebrated the commencement of Ørsted’s Mockingbird Solar Center – a 468 megawatt solar project located just down the road from Paris.
“Half a billion dollars of investment in our own backyard,” Paris Mayor Mihir Pankaj said. “I’ll repeat myself – half a billion dollar investment.”
It represents a big investment into clean energy for Texas.
“All forms of generation will certainly serve a purpose as we try to strengthen our grid and serve the needs of of a very rapidly growing state,” Texas House District 1 Representative Gary VanDeaver said.
It also represents potentially an even bigger investment into Lamar County in the form of an estimated $75 million dollars in property taxes.
“$75 million for roads, for county services, for educational services that are not coming out of the pockets of the local landowners,” VanDeaver said.
It wasn’t just a celebration of the solar center, it was also a celebration of the Smiley Meadow Preserve – land donated by Ørsted to The Nature Conservancy.
“In Texas, 1% or less remains of most types of tall grass prairie,” The Nature Conservancy Texas State Director Suzanne Scott said. “That is why today is so significant.”
Nearly 1,000 acres of the Smiley Woodfin National Grasslands have been preserved as a part of the project, with the Woodfin family in attendance Thursday to revel in the decades of their hard work to maintain it.
“That means my children and my grandchildren can come out and know what it’s like to actually stand on native prairie,” VanDeaver said.