A large array of solar panels to be set up in northeastern Webster County this year is expected to generate enough electricity to power 30,000 homes, according to local and state officials.

When the solar installation is completed, Webster County will be an exporter of energy, according to county Supervisor Mark Campbell.

“That is incredibly exciting,” he said.

Electricity generated by the solar panels will be fed into a nearby substation of MidAmerican Energy and will subsequently go into the transmission grid, according to the Iowa Utilities Board.

Holliday Creek Solar LLC, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, will build the solar array..

Jeff Johnson, the Webster County planning and zoning administrator, said construction is expected to begin in the spring and be done by next winter.

He said the “ground mounted solar array” will be on 957 acres located three miles southeast of Badger. The site will be near 160th Street and Samson Avenue.

The project was approved by the Webster County Board of Adjustment on Jan. 18. It was approved by the Iowa Utilities Board on Feb. 3.

On Thursday, Holliday Creek Solar and MidAmerican Energy filed a request with the Iowa Utilities Board to transfer the site’s certificate to the utility, eventually making it the owner of the solar array.