The federal Energy Department will fund Pennsylvania’s biggest solar energy facility in neighboring Clearfield County, and they are touting it as the replacement for the Homer City Generating Station.
$90 million in federal funds will finance the solar project on reclaimed mine lands in Clearfield County’s Goshen and Girard townships, according to Swift Current Energy, the company awarded the grant through its subsidiary, Mineral Basin Solar Power.
The Energy Department said in a news release that the project “will increase regional access to clean energy and fill a critical electricity-generation gap following the closure of the Homer City coal plant,” adding that it will create more than 750 construction jobs and six operations jobs and provide $1.1 million in annual local tax revenue. However, all of those benefits will be in Clearfield County, not in Indiana County, where the Homer City plant is located.
There were 129 employees working at the Homer City Generating Station when its closure was announced in May of last year.
