STOCKTON, Ala. (WALA) – Baldwin County Commission Chairman Jeb Ball voiced concerns Friday, February 6, 2026 about a proposed solar farm, echoing worries shared by many residents about the project coming to the county.
Ball said he spoke with the property owner, Nashville-based Silicon Ranch, who intends to hold a town hall to answer questions about the development.
Concerned residents of Baldwin County and surrounding areas are working on strategies to oppose the large-scale solar farm in what they said is one of the most environmentally sensitive areas. Silicon Ranch co-founder and CEO Reagan Farr said the company is aware of the concerns and is eager to address them.
Conservation and agricultural plans
“We’re buying forty-five hundred acres of land and maintaining twenty-five hundred acres of those in basically forty-year conservation,” Farr said. “We’re going to hold all those lands as buffer lands and basically have a solar plant but also run an agricultural operation.”
Farr said the 2,000 acres used for the solar farms is currently in standing timber, which would eventually be cut by the property owners if the company had not purchased it. He said their ownership model has transformed properties across 18 states and Canada into agricultural operations and grazing lands.
Wetlands and soil concerns
“We actually improve the fertility of the soil under our solar arrays with how we manage it,” Farr said. “We’re not building in wetlands. Our business model is we build around wetlands. That’s why we buy so much extra land.”
Silicon Ranch is in the early stages of preliminary design and working with the US Army Corps of Engineers to delineate wetlands on the Stockton property. Farr also addressed concerns about chemicals from solar panels leaching into soil.
“They’re made there in the state by a company that invested one point two billion dollars in that facility,” Farr said. “They are safe. They’ve been manufacturing these modules for over two and a half decades and there is not one documented case of any type of leaching associated with those modules.”
Town hall planned
With the scale of the facility and the amount of concern being raised, Farr said he and his team intend to hear residents out.
“I would listen to all the concerns and then try to bring back or bring back a presentation,” offered Farr. “Not on the first night, but a presentation…I hear all of the things that you’re saying. Now let me share some facts with you and third-party studies.”
Silicon Ranch said it intends to fulfill its obligation to Alabama Power to provide solar energy from the Stockton facility. The Stop Solar in Stockton group is holding its own town hall meeting Monday, February 9, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. at the Stockton Civic Club to discuss possible options for keeping Silicon Ranch out of Baldwin County.
Copyright 2026 WALA. All rights reserved.

source