NextEra Energy Resources is at it again in Kansas, this time proposing a solar farm near Holton, Kansas, north of Topeka that would cover enough ground for 6,600 football fields.
The Jackson County Commission met to discuss the 500-megawatt commercial solar plant late last month, and NextEra is promising a huge investment and tons of jobs. The company promises $136 million in new tax revenue — over three decades — and added local construction jobs during the three years of construction.
“The whole state benefits, we need the electricity generation,” Alan Anderson, chair of the energy practice group with the Polsinelli law firm’s Kansas City office, KSNT reported. “The community itself has a number of different things that benefit it. One is the participation in the project, obviously they’ll be compensated for that. But the community as a whole would receive millions of dollars in annual compensation from that.”
But not everyone is buying what NextEra is selling.
“I have a trust issue,” KSN reported Jackson County Commissioner Keith Kelly said. “You are talking about a large company, you’re talking about a small community, we don’t have a bank of attorneys, or funds, I don’t think any of us are in favor of anything larger than 2,000 acres.”
Others have expressed concerns about the environmental impact of the solar project.
Again, according to KSN, “local residents and the City of Rossville filed a lawsuit in early 2025 against the U.S. Department of Treasury (USDT) and Jeffrey Solar in an attempt to halt the project. The plaintiffs claimed the use of taxpayer funding for the project, in the form of tax credits, should require a review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regarding the impact the solar farm will have on the environment. However, a U.S. district judge later dismissed the suit in July, ruling the plaintiffs lacked standing.”
The case is currently under appeal in the 10th Circuit.
The TV station noted that landowner Tom Hoffman is among those who filed the lawsuit. “In a statement to 27 News sent on Sept. 14, he claimed the project will ‘destroy 5,000 or more acres of land, at taxpayer expense’ and cause damage to the environment.”
It is unclear whether more power generation is needed in Kansas
As the Sentinel reported late last year, utility companies around the state — such as Evergy and NextEra — are building additional generating capacity that Kansans simply don’t need.
On Oct. 21, 2024, Kelly joined Evergy executives and legislative leaders to announce that the company will invest more than $2 billion in building two new 705 megawatt (MW) combined-cycle natural gas plants in Kansas. Together, the new projects will provide more than 1,400 MW of dispatchable power, according to a press release.
There’s only one problem — Kansas doesn’t actually appear to need new generating capacity, which means Kansans will unnecessarily pay higher rates to pay for the new plants.
In 2021, Kansas was already supplying approximately one-third of the electricity for the entire 17-state Southwest Power Pool — far in excess of Kansas’ own needs.
Indeed, according to data from the United States Energy Information Administration, Kansas generates 50% more electricity than it consumes — sending most of it out of state — and actual demand for power has been dropping for years.
