Monday’s solar meeting includes a public hearing

Residents of Washington County, Va., have another chance to speak about a proposed large-scale solar energy project during Monday’s Washington County Planning Commission meeting.

The commission is then expected to act on Catalyst Energy Partners’ special exception request following the public hearing. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Washington County Government Center in Abingdon.

“They (the public) will be talking about the special exception permit filed by Catalyst Energy,” County Administrator Jason Berry said. “They filed this with the county on May 31st.

“Ultimately, the purpose of the special exception permit is for the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors to review an application and see if it complies with the county ordinance,” Berry said. “And, it’s to get feedback from the public.”

Dallas, Texas-based Catalyst Energy wants to build a 262-megawatt solar power facility on about 2,253 leased acres of both agricultural and industrial land, mostly in the Wyndale area, Berry said.

Of these, 1,575 acres are proposed to be fenced.

“That’s obviously where the solar panels would be, behind those fenced areas,” Berry said.

They are also required under a recently passed solar ordinance to allow space between the proposed solar farm and neighboring properties, Berry said.

“In their application, they talk about the economic impact,” Berry said. “They’re talking about the total cost of this project is $386.9 million.”

Of that estimate, $221.9 million is slated for project design, preparation and construction, while the remaining amount — $165.1 million — equates to capital equipment costs of solar panels and other hardware, Berry said. .

The proposed project spans 33 parcels, Berry said.

“It’s very close to the Bristol Virginia city limits,” Berry said.

The proposed sites are about two miles from Clear Creek Golf Course and less than half a mile from Sugar Hollow Park, according to Berry.

The golf course contains a dam controlled by the Tennessee Valley Authority, similar to a TVA dam on Beaver Creek at Sugar Hollow. Both dams are used to control flooding in Bristol city centre.

Landowners who want to lease their property for the solar farm say it could help provide income from vacant land.

The permit application includes proposed sites on land along State Route 645 (Wyndale Road) and (Wallace Pike), State Route 662 (Spring Valley Road), State Route 614 (Childress Hollow Road), State Route 804 (Rust Hollow Road ), State Route 657 (Reedy Creek Road), State Route 1717 (Industrial Park Road), and State Route 625 (Bordwine Road).

The tracts are located in the A-1 (Agricultural, Limited), A-2 (Agricultural, General) and R-2 (Residential, General) zoning districts, county documents show.

There are industrial, residential, commercial and agricultural properties adjacent to the plots proposed for this project.

The request does not include the rezoning of any properties.

Large-scale solar projects are permitted by law in the M-1 and M-2 districts, so the special exception requested is not necessary and does not apply to the five parcels located exclusively in the M-2 district, according to the application.

The landowners whose names appear in the applications contained in the package as requesting the exception are Michael Anderson, Sharon Duckett, Darrell Gilbert, Green Valley Poultry Farm, Inc., Timothy Icenhour, Sage Johnson, David Mason, Scott Meyers, Roe Properties, LLC, Bruce Shankle, Michael Turley, Roger Lee White and Tyler Wilson.

Others listed on the meeting agenda are Mason Bowery LLC, William B. Noonkester Estate, Farmlands, Inc. and FB & Bertha Noonkester Irrevocable Trust.

At previous meetings, some neighbors raised concerns about potential drainage issues, obstructed views, loss of farmland and whether Catalyst could be sold to unknown foreign investors.

Planning Commissioner Dulcie Mumpower was among the most vocal county leaders who spoke about the proposal, which is mostly in Wilson County but also spans Tyler and Jefferson electoral districts.

“This is a very beautiful county. People come here because of that,” Mumpower said. “I don’t think they want to come here and see solar panels all over our county. They can go see it if they go to the desert, where they should be, not residential areas.”

She said several county residents have called her to voice their concerns.

“The neighbors in this community are quite upset about solar panels coming to our area. The neighbors didn’t want this in their neighborhood,” Mumpower said. “If my neighbors don’t want it, then I have to step back and look at it and decide if it’s a good thing for our neighborhood.”

However, Mumpower did not say what her actions might be at Monday’s committee meeting.

“I always like to wait until I see what both sides have to say before I make a decision about what to do,” she said. “I don’t think we know all we need to know about whether solar panels are right for a community like ours.”

As for any potential future sale of the project, District Attorney Brandon Snodgrass said it would likely be outside of the county’s control.

“Can you tell a business owner who they may or may not sell a business to in the future?” asked Snodgrass.

Catalyst’s plan calls for feeding energy, collected from the array of panels, to the electrical grid through the Wolf Hills Energy Center.

“They are building a solar farm to meet the capacity of Wolf Hills Energy,” Berry said.

In its application, Catalyst proposes to pay the county a portion of the money generated by the sale of that power, which equates to about $22 million over the proposed project’s 35-year life.

According to the application, the proposed project would employ approximately 890 local and non-local full-time equivalent construction workers over a representative construction period of 12 months. Construction is expected to take approximately 20-25 months.

During the construction phase, the project would support 147 direct job-years and 115 indirect and induced job-years, $14.7 million in wages and associated benefits, and $64.3 million in economic output.

During its operational phase, the project is estimated to support three direct and nine indirect and induced jobs and generate $2.9 million in economic output, according to the application.

If the special exception permit is approved, the company would have to meet all Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) requirements as administered by the county, Berry said.

Finally, the proposed solar ordinance calls for a decommissioning plan to remove the panels and related infrastructure after about 35 years, according to both Snodgrass and Berry.