The Jeff Davis Parish School Board agreed Thursday to grant an industrial tax exemption request for a 400-acre solar facility project in Topsy.

The Jeff Davis Parish Police Jury also adopted a resolution last week approving the Industrial Tax Exemption (ITEP) application for Texas-based Aypa Powers’ Cajun Crossroads Energy Center project. Under the program manufacturers are exempted from 80 percent of the property taxes for the first 5-10 years.

Aypa Power Vice President of Development Forrest Forster said the company plans to build a $440 million, 375-megawatt solar powered generation facility. The project will span across 2,000-plus acres of leased pine plantation in northwest Jeff Davis Parish and northeast Calcasieu Parish. About 400 acres of the project will be located south of Cormier Road in Jeff Davis Parish.

“Our company is in the business of bringing new electric generation facilities on line,” Forster said. “We specialize in batteries, like the ones in your cell phones or laptop computers. This project is a solar project and it’s only solar at the moment.”

The project will include multiple solar panels, transformers and transmission lines which will connect into the high voltage grid of equipment owned and operated by Entergy.

Forster said the 400-acres currently brings in just over $1,300 annually for the parish with the School Board receiving $350 in property taxes a year.

“With what we are proposing, the amount of tax generated will be substantial,” Forster said. “We’re talking about construction tax as early as next year in the amount of about $640,000 and if we go into operations in 2026, that $350 would increase by about 100 times, so over $36,000 a year for the first 10-years, then it goes up even more from there.”

The facility is expected to operate for more than 30 years with more than $3 million in new taxes generated specifically for the School Board and $10 million for the Police Jury, he said.

The project is also expected to create about 300 jobs during peak construction. A handful of people will be employed, mainly for maintenance, once operations begin, Forster said.

Board members also adopted a resolution appointing School Board President Paul Trahan as the panel’s representative on the newly formed Jeff Davis Parish local ITEP Committee. Trahan will serve along with Police Jury President Steve Eastman and Sheriff Kyle Miers.

According to the resolution, Trahan will participant in all ITEP discussions and report back to the School Board on the committee’s discussions and recommendations

After the meeting, Trahan said he is looking forward to working with the committee and Aypa to move the solar project forward.

“From seeing their presentation tonight, I think it is a very positive thing for our school system especially when it comes to the finances ,” Trahan said. “I think it’s a good thing for the parish as well.”

Trahan said he will be “the voice of the board” on the committee and will discuss matters with the School Board so that he knows how the board feels about future projects.