It’s a sign of progress for the expansive project designed to generate enough power for 16,000 average homes, according to Tina Hoffman, vice president, corporate communications for MidAmerican Energy Co.

About 275,000 solar panels will eventually be installed on 850 acres of land, located near 160th Street and Samson Avenue in Webster County. A large substation, which has lines going in all four directions, is already at the site.

The panels are anticipated to arrive later this month, Hoffman reported.

Electricity generated by the solar panels will be fed into a nearby substation of MidAmerican Energy Co. and will subsequently go into the transmission grid.

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson Work is ongoing at the site of the Holliday Creek Solar Array project northeast of Fort Dodge. When complete, the solar panels will generate enough power for 16,000 average homes.

Each panel is approximately 440 watts and 7 feet long by 3.5 feet wide. In all, the Solar Array is anticipated to produce 100 megawatts.

EDF Renewables and Blattner Energy are two firms working on the project.

During the peak of construction, between 250 and 300 workers will be onsite.

MidAmerican recently completed a 3-megawatt solar project in Waterloo. It has solar projects near Iowa City, Sioux City, in Franklin County, and one in Adair County.

The project in Webster County is the largest.

“This solar project and the others MidAmerican is working on boost the amount of clean, renewable energy we can provide to our customers,” Hoffman said. “We’ve made a lot of progress in delivering the renewable energy our customers demand, and we aren’t stopping there. As we strive to achieve a net-zero future, projects like Holliday Creek will be very important.”

Holliday Creek is anticipated to have all 100 megawatts fully operational by mid-2022.