PIERCE COUNTY - A large-scale solar farm may soon be on its way to Pierce County, and would be built on the land of two brothers looking to diversify their operation.

The process started when NPPD proposed a 345 kV line between Neligh and Hoskins a few years ago, a line that would go right through the farmland of Aaron and Ryan Zimmerman. Instead of fighting the proposal however, the Zimmermans decided to look at the situation in a different light.

"While everyone was fighting about it, we didn't offer any resistance, and we thought that this could be handy someday," Aaron Zimmerman said. "That's where this idea was born, even though solar back at that time wasn't anywhere near economical, but we thought this would be a way we could utilize our farm for something better than row crop production."

From there the Zimmermans began talks with NextEra Energy to construct a nearly 2,500 acre solar farm on their land. Ryan Zimmerman says the idea appealed to the brothers after researching different ways to utilize their land other than traditional farming.

"Ultimately we knew we wanted to do something more than just farming," Ryan Zimmerman said. "We all know the ag economy has been tough, so the idea of diversifying our operation really appealed to us, and we started doing more research with solar and realized this could be a very good opportunity for us."

A major step in the farm's construction will be taking place next week, as the Pierce County Board of Commissioners will be voting on a conditional use permit for Boulevard Associates LLC to construct the project, known as the Goldenrod Solar Farm. The CUP is just one of many steps in the process however, as Aaron says there are still more hoops to jump through before the project can fully take shape.

"NextEra still has to sell the power, and the interconnect agreement has to be set with Southwest Power Pool, who manages the entire transmission grid from North Dakota down to Texas," Aaron Zimmerman said. "That can take time, but there's a whole lot of momentum behind this farm, and we're one of the first ones in the queue list for solar so it's really positioned well."

The CUP vote will take place at the Pierce County Board's February 10th meeting, and News Channel Nebraska will have coverage of the decision next week.