Solar land auction nets two sales, more slated - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

uhetemejih.wordpress.com
million, with a third deal potentially in the Buyers of the small parcels were not butKuldip Verma, president and CEO of , which sold the said the buyers had interest in developingh the land's solar potential. Vermaland also is looking at sellinba 3,600-acre parcel at auction withibn the next six months in the county’s western reaches. While the first auctionj focused on five smaller a larger, contiguous site such as Vermaland’s coul draw a higher premium, if companies believe it has access to water and power lines.
“Several large-scale utility companiexs have expressed interest in the propert once the siteis developed,” said Verma, who addedr the site has water on-site wells and a low slope. While the company was able to sell the two prices were below what neighborinbg land has beenselling for. The goal was to spur solart companies to purchase land rather than simply tieit up, Vermq said. The properties sold at Saturday’sa auction included an 80-acre site in the Tonopah area for $340,000 and a 320-acr e site in Tonopah for $2.24 The company did not identify whichy of the remaining three properties might be involved inanother deal.
“The auction brought the propertiees to the attention of some parties that we had never been incontactf with, as well as reminded others we had spoken with in the past of the which is highly suitable for solafr development,” said Anita Verma-Lallian, the company’s marketing director. Vermaland alread y had sold land toseveral California-basef utilities looking to develop renewable resourcez to meet that state’s standarda for clean energy.
Solar energy developers have been placingb applications on state and federal lands in western Arizona for the pastthreer years, and private land owners have been negotiating as developers look for the best As companies scout for they also face financing issues and none of the proposer projects in Arizona has broken ground. Arizona’s main solarr corridor includes Vermaland’s an area that stretches from Yuma to Phoenix and Tucson seen as a huge growtyh area fordeveloping utility-scale solar power