How did this come about?

In some sense, PSG dates to 1901, when Wyndham Robinson (“Bunk”) Harvey bought the first two sections (640 acres – one square mile) of what became the 53-section Harvey Ranch. Bunk’s great-grandson and namesake, Windham Loopesko, inherited portions of the Harvey Ranch starting in 2005. He began having conversations in the Summer of 2020 with David Talon and Christian Clem regarding a potential project strategy and his long-held desire to see renewable energy on the Wild Plum Ranch. The project took form in February 2021 after he read an article in the Financial Times describing the increasing competition among Big Tech companies to invest in renewable energy projects driven by the growth in Big Data and data centers (available upon request).

How much land does it take to produce one megawatt of electricity?

Typically, in Texas, it takes 5-7 acres to produce one megawatt of electricity. The Southwest Power Pool’s Guidelines for Generator Interconnection Request recommends a minimum of six acres per megawatt. Utility-scale battery storage requires additional acreage.

How much electricity will the two Farms produce?

The ERCOT farm will produce 1.014GW of photovoltaic energy and 350MWac of four-hour battery storage. The Hydrogen Farm will produce 600MWac of photovoltaic energy.

How does the sunlight at the Farm compare with other geographies?

The Farm is at the upper end of existing projects in terms of available irradiance. Borger, the nearest city (some 6-8 miles southwest), has 263 days of sunlight per year. A survey of 11 existing Texas solar farms shows a range of 221-265 days. As part of its engineering studies, PSG will be obtaining detailed irradiance studies designed to obtain precise global horizontal irradiance data at the Farm’s specific location.

Who owns the grid that the Farms will be connecting to?

The ERCOT farm will connect to the ERCOT grid. ERCOT is a membership-based 501(c)(4) not-for-profit corporation, and its members include consumers, electric cooperatives, generators, power marketers, retail electric providers, investor-owned electric utilities (transmission and distribution providers), and municipally owned electric utilities. The Hydrogen Farm will most likely be BTM, in which case it will be owned by the hydrogen producer, but if not, it may connect either to the ERCOT grid or the Southwest Power Pool grid, which, like ERCOT, is a membership-based 501(c)(4) not-for-profit corporation.

How will the Farms change the local economy?

The Panhandle’s economy is based on fossil fuel production/manufacturing, agriculture, and livestock. Wind energy is present in many areas, but the only existing utility-scale solar project in the Panhandle is in Childress, in the extreme southeast. The Farm will be one of the largest development projects in the history of the Panhandle, creating an estimated 1000 jobs, of which approximately half will be in construction. It will bring new housing, restaurants, and other service businesses not only to Borger and Hutchinson County but to the neighboring counties as well.

How do the costs of solar power compare with those from other energy sources?

The cost of solar power production has declined by 90% in the last decade. Currently utility-scale solar power is the cheapest form of new build generation in the world. All estimates are per megawatt-hour.

· Solar: $15-42 per MWh

· Wind: $26-54 per MWh

· Coal: $65-159 per MWh

· Gas: $44-198 per MWh

The International Energy Agency recently said that “solar power offers the cheapest energy in history.”

Is it true that developing solar projects will hurt the fossil-fuel-based economy?

Demand for more energy and new energy sources is exploding. The International Energy Agency, traditionally a trade association for the fossil fuel industry, has suggested that, if the world is to meet the climate change goals in the Paris climate agreement, all research for new fossil fuel energy sources should cease. Solar power will complement existing fossil fuel power sources, not replace them; even with battery storage, renewable energy, at least for the foreseeable future will require energy to offset the intermittency problem (i.e., that renewable energy is not consistently generating electricity 24/7). Clean energy investments per dollar provide three times more jobs than fossil fuel investments – and the jobs are generally higher paying.

How will the Farm benefit Panhandle residents?

Developing the Farm will benefit Panhandle residents in the following ways. It will:

• Provide hundreds of jobs, both direct and indirect;

• Bring new housing, restaurants, and other retail businesses to the area;

• Increase local tax revenues; and

• Improve existing infrastructure with relatively little “draw” (only a small increase in traffic or in the number of students to be educated).

• Create a more sustainable energy mix in the region.

Why are “Big Tech” companies seeking renewable power for their data centers?

“Big Tech” companies such as Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft (as well as more traditional big companies such as Walmart and AT&T) have made aggressive pledges to become “carbon-neutral” or “net zero” in the coming decades. Acquiring renewable energy resources has become a source of rivalry among them — to keep their existing employees happy, to recruit new employees, and to meet the expectations of an increasingly young customer base.

What is the impact of solar energy compared to fossil-fuel-based energy on the grid?

Solar power offers several advantages for the grid and the utilities that own it:

• It generates maximum power during summer afternoons – peak load time for many areas of the country.

• Solar generators are smaller than fossil-fuel generators – and thus cause less disruption to the grid if they go down for any reason.

• The fuel for solar power is free and does not require transportation to the generation site.

• Solar farms are less intrusive environmentally; there are no emissions from the power they generate.

• Solar power fuel is free and not a depletable resource (if it becomes depletable, we have other, more serious problems...)

• Costs associated with solar power generation are predictable and less volatile than fossil-fuel-generated power.

What is your timeline for developing the Farm?

PSG is actively seeking potential strategic partners/acquirers for both the ERCOT and the Hydrogen Projects. It has hired an investment bank to identify such partners/acquirers, and discussions are underway with a number of candidates.

Why is Hutchinson County a good location for a green hydrogen project?

Hutchinson County has a number of features that make it attractive to develop a hydrogen production facility:

1. It has the flat land, wind, and sunshine that are necessary to produce the non-fossil-fuel electricity necessary to produce green hydrogen;

2. The City of Borger has two major industrial installations — the second-largest inland oil refinery in the US and a large ammonia producer; and

3. the refinery is already discharging into Dixon Creek some five million gallons of water per day — water which would be available for the production of green hydrogen, which is produced by running an electric current through water to separate the hydrogen and oxygen atoms.