Buying Land in Lyon County, Minnesota

A 62 MW Solar Farm Already Sits on Former Farmland East of Marshall

Could not confirm

The Marshall Solar Energy Project, built in 2016 by NextEra Energy Resources, occupies roughly 355 acres of agricultural land about three miles east of Marshall near the intersection of Minnesota Highway 19 and Lyon County Road 9, generating about 62 megawatts. For a buyer evaluating land near this corridor, an operating utility-scale solar facility is a concrete, already-realized land-use fact -- worth understanding for its effect on nearby land use, any associated transmission infrastructure, and how the county's zoning ordinance and any conditional-use-permit history treated the original conversion from farmland, which can inform expectations for future renewable-energy proposals nearby.

A Second, Larger Renewable Project Is Still in the Approval Pipeline

Case-by-case / verify locally

NextEra has proposed the Cotton River Wind project for Lyon County: up to 63 wind turbines generating roughly 200 megawatts, subject to state and local approval, with a targeted start of operations by the end of 2029 (delayed from an initial 2025 target reported when the project was first announced in 2023). Because the project remains in development rather than built and operating, its exact footprint, turbine siting, and any associated easements or setback requirements are not yet finalized. For a buyer considering land anywhere in the project's likely footprint, monitor the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission's Energy Infrastructure Permitting docket for Cotton River Wind and confirm current status directly with Lyon County Planning and Zoning before assuming either that the project won't proceed or that its current proposed boundary is final.

Lyon County Itself Is the Shoreland Local Government Unit

Generally favorable

Lyon County Planning and Zoning administers the state shoreland management program directly as the county's local government unit, covering the shoreland zone around the county's lakes and the Cottonwood and Redwood River corridors in the county's southeastern reaches, consistent with the statewide Rule 6120 framework described on our Minnesota state page. Confirm the specific shoreland classification and setback standard for any parcel with the department directly, since -- as elsewhere in Minnesota -- exact figures depend on the specific water body's state classification.