Plans emerge for large solar project outside Burnet
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A land survey filed in Burnet County shows plans for a large solar project right outside of Burnet. Local officials are assessing the current status of the development and what, if any, regulatory authority they have over it.
According to the survey filed with Burnet County Development Services, the solar project is about 376 acres and lies along the north side of Shady Grove Road, about half a mile outside of Burnet city limits. The document indicates that the survey work was completed and signed by Stantec Consulting Services on May 11, 2026 for developers Gransolar Twenty Two LLC and Red Sun Solar.
Records filed with the Burnet County Clerk’s Office show a “Memorandum of Solar Energy and Energy Storage Lease and Easement Agreement” made in October 2023 between a Burnet County landowner and developer Gransolar Texas Twenty Two. That lease agreement was updated on May 7, 2026, clarifying the dimensions of the leased land to 376 acres.
Being outside of Burnet city limits, the potential development would be under the primary jurisdiction of the Burnet County government.
Burnet County Director of Development Services Herb Darling told DailyTrib that the survey was filed with the county in mid May, but little else is known about the scope and details of the project at the county level.
“(Filing the survey was) more of a courtesy than anything,” Darling said. “We have no regulatory authority over this.”
He explained that Texas has few regulations over “solar farms” and that the county may have no tools to oversee a project like the one proposed on Shady Grove Road.
While the project is outside of Burnet city limits, it is within the extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) of the city, leaving some possible routes for regulation from the city’s perspective. A city’s ETJ is an area of land surrounding a municipality that the city has a small amount of sway over when it comes to planning, annexation, and emergency services in some cases.
Burnet City Manager David Vaughn told DailyTrib that he was aware of the solar project, but still had more research to do regarding any sort of regulation.
“(The developers) have reached out to us and asked questions about platting,” he said. “I told them very clearly that we will make life as difficult for them as we can. We don’t want to see it around here.”
Burnet County Precinct 2 Commissioner Damon Beierle, who represents the area the 376-acre solar project would lie within, said he too was researching what could be done regarding the development.
“We’re aware of the project and we are researching who to coordinate with on the state and local level,” he told DailyTrib.
Both Vaughn and Beierle stated that they planned on bringing the matter up with the freshly-formed Highland Lakes Sub-Regional Planning Commission, which was created in early 2026 to help unite local governments against a proposed state transmission project looming over the region.
For the life-of-me, I can not understand why the City of Burnet or Burnet County officals would be opposed to a solar power generation facility. It something that they could brag about how forward thinking they are. If the company has a good track record, I say embrace the future.