DALEVILLE, Va. (WDBJ) – Solar farms are popping up across the U.S. and even in our hometowns. Now, it’s the center of conversation in Botetourt County.
The planning commission met Monday night to consider a proposal for a solar farm in Fincastle.
“Keep our farms free and open,” said one Fincastle resident.
With signs in hand, many residents in Botetourt County stood their ground when it came to opposing a proposed solar farm off Roanoke Rd. in Fincastle.
“This is basically wealth redistribution at the expense of the rural community. No, thank you,” said one Botetourt County resident.
“Solar farms aren’t really sustainable. After a while, the panels degrade, and they do leak toxic chemicals into the environment and have to be replaced,” said Botetourt County resident Jessie Bearman.
New Leaf Energy brought its plans to develop a 5.0-megawatt solar farm to the planning commission’s attention. The farm is set to last up to 40 years with 12,234 panels, 28.1 acres fenced, plus 6.1 acres of stormwater, access road, and vegetative buffer. The company estimates the project could power as many as 1,000 homes.
It will operate under the ‘community scale solar energy program‘. This program allows New Leaf Energy to generate renewable energy to be fed into the local energy grid, allowing residents and businesses to subscribe to portions of the solar output. The company said this would save residents 10-20% on ApCo electric bills.
“They also told us that you had to subscribe to the solar farm before the solar farm was actually built. So if you don’t get in on that first draw of that, you’re out of luck. You’re not going to be getting any kind of credits towards your electric bill,” said Botetourt County resident Shirley Jarusck.
Although New Leaf Energy said the solar farm is 500’ from the roads, therefore wouldn’t be visible from the highway or neighboring residents, many people still argued that it’s harmful to the waterways.
“We’re talking about dumping sediment and erosion directly into the Chesapeake Bay. That’s no longer making a decision just for our county,” said one Botetourt County resident.
After hearing the proposal and community comments, the planning commission decided that further research is needed.
“A lot of the commissioners had concerns about runoff, the potential for heavy metal contamination, and whether or not this really fit into the conventional definition of farming, if it was going to affect adjacent landowners’ farms more than anything else,” said Botetourt County Planning Commission Chairman Dr. Elizabeth Leffel.
The planning commission tabled the application until its June meeting.
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