Walworth County residents ramp up fight against planned solar farms

Foreign company wants to construct 355 megawatt plant near Mobridge.

Rendering of the proposed Oahe Solar project. (Doral Renewables LLC)

AKASKA – An Israeli company wants to build 3,200 acres of solar farms in Walworth County. 

But Doral Renewables LLC is facing heavy pushback from neighbors of its planned sites in Walworth County, hundreds of whom are organizing in hopes of stifling the project, which would be one of the largest solar farms in the country.

“I’m not against solar completely,” said Dave Kulm, an Akaska area resident and a member of the newly-formed “Concerned Residents of Walworth County” that convened Monday at the Akaska Community Center. “But we need to protect ranchers and farmers.”

The opposition comes about a year after word spread that Walworth County was being targeted for the development after the company began working with some willing area landowners open to housing solar farms on their property.

And in May, county commissioners placed a moratorium on the permitting of solar-related projects within its jurisdiction, a response to public pressure from nearby property owners like Kulm.

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