El Dorado Springs installs new solar farm

The solar farm has 10,000 panels on 20 acres of land just east of El Dorado Springs on Highway 54.

"It will generate 3.311 megawatts of electricity and that represents around 1/4 of the city's load." said Bruce Rogers, city manager for El Dorado Springs.

MC Power operates the farm and has 35 farms like it in Missouri, that all share the energy they collect.

"Once we knew that they were going to do a second round of unit installations, we decided we wanted to be one of those cities that received one of those." said Rogers.

Now businesses in town can brag about where their energy comes from.

"Whenever a business is here, they can say we are a green company, just because part of their power is solar." said Jackson Tough, with the El Dorado Springs chamber of commerce.

And it could bring more business in.

"Some of the other cities that are in the pool have indicated that it has helped them in their economic development activities, recruiting new businesses." said Rogers.

"I think that is reason enough to believe that this is really a celebration of progress in El Dorado Springs." said Tough.

It will not affect your electric bills immediately, but could spare them later on.

"It is going to provide a stable supply of power that will more than likely prevent or delay any rate increases in the future." said Rogers.

The farm has been operating since the beginning of the month.