MARSHALL — A renewable energy company has plans to build a solar farm on land about a mile away from the city of Cottonwood. However, the company and Lyon County commissioners didn’t agree on how much money should be put aside to dismantle the solar project at the end of its life.

On Tuesday, a representative from Dimension Energy asked commissioners for time to come up with an alternative to putting about $450,000 in an escrow account for the solar project.

Daniel Solorzano, director of development with Dimension Energy, said putting aside $450,000 in cash would restrict the company from developing further solar projects.

“The cost of developing this project and others like this one is anywhere from $200,000 to half a million (dollars), depending on what’s needed,” Solorzano said.

After discussion, commissioners approved a permit for the solar garden that kept the escrow requirements. The vote was split 3-2 in favor of approving the permit.

Lyon County Planning and Zoning Administrator John Biren said Dimension Energy’s permit application came before the county Planning and Zoning Commission in a public hearing last week.

Dimension Energy, a company with solar projects in the Midwest and on the East and West Coasts, was seeking a permit to build a 4.95-megawatt solar garden in Lyon County. The solar garden would be located on 40 acres of land along County Road 10, in Lucas Township.

“Our plan for the project is to develop it, own it and operate it,” Solorzano said. The solar garden is projected to generate a total of about $625,000 in energy production taxes for the county over 40 years.

The plan was for the solar project to be part of Minnesota’s community solar garden program, where subscribers could get credits on their electric bills, Solorzano said.

“The planning commission came up with some recommendations for the board to consider,” Biren said of the project.

One recommendation was that Dimension Energy put money in an escrow account to decommission the solar garden at the end of its life. The planning commission asked that Dimension Energy set aside a cash payment of $250,000 for the first megawatt of its solar farm, and $50,000 for each additional megawatt.

“We’re looking at about $445,000 for a project like this,” Biren said.

Solorzano asked county commissioners for time to come up with an alternative to the cash payments.

“Right now, I’m not going to ask to remove it entirely, but just to give us time for a proposal,” he said. “I’m still working with my team on seeking other financial instruments that might be available for you.”

In discussion of the permit recommendations, Commissioner Rick Anderson said he didn’t know that the escrow payments would have to be made before the solar project began. Draper moved to keep the condition requiring the escrow payments, but add that the payments were not due until Dimension Energy files for a building permit on the solar garden. The motion passed 4-1, with Commissioner Gary Crowley casting the vote against.

In a second vote, commissioners approved a conditional use permit for Dimension Energy, with commissioners Paul Graupmann and Gary Crowley voting against it.