On September 23, 2024, the Village of Brock held their regular monthly meeting. During which, the village’s budget was approved and National Grid Renewables, the energy company looking to install a 100-megawatt solar farm south of the village, answered the board member’s questions regarding the project.
Following the approval of the budget and other regular meeting agenda items, National Grid Renewables gave another presentation to the board and the attending citizens of Brock. The company brought a number of experts in the different fields of solar energy generation and discussed numerous concerns voiced at the previous meeting. The presentation began with the mention that more than $1 million had already been invested in the Brock solar farm, and that the project was being included in the National Grid Renewable’s portfolio, though nothing had been built or agreed upon between the board and the company. They then showed the map of the land that they had leased from various families south of the village. These properties include land owned by, according to the Nemaha County Assessor GIS Website, Elaine Peterson, James and Laura Grundman, Doyle and Patricia Rippe and Gauchat Farms which is co-owned by Charlotte Easland and Stephanie Kathol. The total amount of land these leases come to is around 1,200 acres.
The company discussed the economic benefits of the project next, showing that, over 20 years, the project would raise around $7.9 million in tax revenue, dividing out into $5.1 million for the school districts, $2.3 million for the local county, $244,000 to townships and $238,000 to the natural resource district and agricultural society. $500,000 would be given to an entity that Brock decided on as a “charitable fund,” and it was explained that 150 construction and service-related jobs would be created in the installation of the arrays, and that 1-2 full time jobs would be created after construction was completed.
