Hardy Land Alliance members, from left, Deb Bishop, Miriam Leatherman and George Leatherman stand on land where a proposed solar farm could be located in Old Fields, W.Va.
A field in Old Fields, W.Va., that could be part of a solar farm.
Tim Seck
Tim Seck
Hardy Land Alliance members, from left, Deb Bishop, Miriam Leatherman and George Leatherman stand on land where a proposed solar farm could be located in Old Fields, W.Va.
A field in Old Fields, W.Va., that could be part of a solar farm.
OLD FIELDS, W.Va. — Residents in a small Hardy County town are at odds over the installation of solar panels across multiple family farms.
When George and Miriam Leatherman sit outside on their porch on their family farm, they see rolling fields. A proposed 2,400-acre solar farm could change that.
For their neighbors, however, giving up portions of their land means life-changing money — more than $1 million each year for the next 25-35 years. MN8, an energy company owned by Goldman Sachs, is determined to purchase this land for clean, renewable energy, but where the energy is going remains unclear.
Residents would like to know what the solar farm would look like.
MN8 has been working to put the farm in Old Fields and officials say they need 1,000 acres.
The company claims only 200 acres of the leased land will be covered in solar panels, but that could change.
BackgroundOld Fields is a small farm town known for its history and agricultural production.
The town is a part of the top agricultural producing county in West Virginia, producing primarily poultry and eggs.
Hardy County generates more than $102,000 annually in poultry and egg sales alone, according to the USDA 2022 Census.
MN8 has been seeking large tracts of land across the state throughout the past few years to install solar farms.
The company initially purchased 6,000 acres of land in Mount Storm, an area that was once a coal mining site.
After purchasing the land, officials decided it was too costly to install the solar panels there.
MN8 began looking into the Old Fields area in early 2024 and is said to be offering large sums of money toward various community stakeholders to entice project support.
MN8 has gone around to neighbors offering what has been both called a “good neighbor letter” and a “cooperation agreement,” offering an initial amount of $25,000 to neighbors in surrounding areas to ensure their approval of the project.
They additionally intend to enter a subsequent agreement with the school district to create a community benefit fund intended to generate money for the school district without an increase in their state payments.
Opposition“We’re not against green energy on your personal home, not against green energy even for a community or business or residential area,” Miriam Leatherman said. “But this is industrialized solar, and none of it’s going to benefit West Virginia.”
The Leathermans are a part of the opposition group Hardy Land Alliance that was formed after a community solar meeting earlier this year.
Their group is worried about the effects the proposed solar farm may have on the environment, their viewshed and their small town’s farm resources.
“We’re supposed to be stewards of the land. Instead they’re trying to grab as much money off of it as we can,” George Leatherman said.
The Leathermans, alongside many of their surrounding neighbors, display a sign on their farm reading “NO SOLAR FARMS” with a red X through the middle.
One of the group’s primary arguments revolves around protecting farmland and respecting the measures that are already in place.
Hardy County has a zoning board in place to protect farmland. However, after a vote by county commissioners, a solar ordinance is in the works to allow solar panels in places where they would originally not be allowed.
Hardy Land Alliance has started a petition to prevent the solar farm from being built in Old Fields.
“So, we got a list of the bordering people, and we have over half of the surrounding property owners that are opposed to it, that have signed their petition,” George Leatherman said.
“In the meanwhile, this company is going around to the neighbors and offering them money. They call it the good neighbor letter. They offer them money to say they’re not opposed to it.”
A solar subcommittee dedicated to creating the ordinance was created early on in 2026.
“I actually sounded the alarm bell for a lack of better words back then …” Melissa Scott, Hardy County planner, said.
“I realized what large acres we were talking about here. I realized that this was in one of our prime ag valleys.”
Scott called for a solar informational meeting early on after realizing MN8 had initially been requesting more than 3,000 acres in Old Fields.
Around 150 people came to the meeting with questions and concerns of what this solar farm could mean. Soon after, the Hardy Land Alliance formed.
Solar and the environmentMany of Hardy Land Alliance’s concerns surround potential environmental consequences, as well as the possible long-term damages to the land.
“I mean, how are we going to feed people if it’s all taken up with data centers and solar?” Deb Bishop, a member of Hardy Land Alliance, said.
“They say you can put it back into agriculture in 30 to 50 years. That’s a couple generations. Technology is constantly changing.”
MN8 has promised to remove the solar panels after the project has reached the end of its lifespan, which is expected to be about 35 years. Some community members aren’t buying it.
“They have historically underfunded the bonds, so they don’t have enough money to clean them up in the end,” Scott said. “That’s West Virginia, we were extremely concerned about that.”
Scott mentioned that historically West Virginia doesn’t always clean up after the end of a project’s lifespan.
The state has an estimated 50,000-plus abandoned oil and gas wells in addition to thousands of abandoned mines left behind.
While it is the legal responsibility of MN8 to clean up after the project, state agencies have historically been inconsistent with enforcement of project decommissioning.
Another concern from the group stems from housing lithium-ion batteries and the potential for a fire that the local fire department may not be equipped to handle.
MN8’s project website said the chance for a fire is “incredibly low” due to a sensor that can detect fires and alert operation and maintenance team members who can shut the array off.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, solar fires are a possibility.
MN8’s interest“We’re looking for a number of landowners that are interested in kind of growing another crop on their land, and we found a number of landowners representing over 1,000 acres that are interested in growing another crop on their land,” Tim Seck, MN8 senior vice president and head of project development, said.
Moorefield, the Hardy County seat, is about 5 miles from Old Fields and was selected as the proposed potential power recipient due to its proximity to ample transmission lines that run through Hardy County.
West Virginia has only six solar farms. Only .09% of energy generated in the state comes from solar.
The Old Fields solar farm would become the largest producing farm in the state, generating up to 165 megawatts of power, according to the Old Fields solar website.
West Virginia does not typically purchase green energy, which has many wondering who will purchase the energy and where it will go.
“The energy is going to be going into a transmission line that feeds directly into the Moorefield substation,” Seck said. “So, we don’t know exactly where or who we’re going to sell the power to. We’re certainly talking to local entities that might need power.”
The project is predicted to power 24,000 West Virginia homes, according to the MN8 website.
“We understand from the community and some opponents that agriculture is very important in the community,” Seck said.
“And we’ve kind of bent over backwards, trying to come up with a plan to integrate sheep grazing into our project, so that instead of doing mechanical mowing, we’re going to use sheep to do the kind of maintenance of the vegetation.”
Additionally, MN8 is offering financial incentives for the community, including a payment in lieu of tax agreement.
“We’re willing to go above and beyond what’s required at the state, and work with the local communities because I think there’s been a little skepticism about whether or not what we commit to is sufficient,” Seck said.
“And they want to have a role in kind of deciding how decommissioning costs are set, and we’re open to having that conversation.”
‘Extra revenue’For the landowners who were approached about giving up portions of their farms, allowing solar panels on their farms can bring in large yearly sums of money.
“I’m a fourth-generation farmer, but there’s less and less interest in the farm, unfortunately. Everything’s just so much more expensive,” DJ Taylor, a local pastor and school board member, said.
“It’s extra revenue that we could have. We have a parcel of land on what they call Markwood Road that we no longer have cattle on, we don’t have fields that we graze, we don’t do anything.”
The cost of farming has significantly increased over recent years with price increases for fuel, equipment and production.
Taylor said the current price of some parts cost as much as it would be to purchase an entire tractor years ago.
For Mark Wilt, he said giving MN8 portions of his late father’s land allows for their family farm to continue on.
“We leased part of the farm to someone who has cattle on there and raises some corn,” Wilt said.
“We were careful to say that we reserve part of the farm that’s excluded from the solar panels, so that we can continue so that our family at least still has that connection to agriculture.”
Next stepsMN8 has applied to join the PJM power grid. A Generator Interconnection Agreement isn’t expected to be reached until spring 2028.
Where the power may go is still up for debate with lots of speculation of who it will be purchased by. Some think it may go to proposed data centers, which require a large amount of electricity to operate.
Seck said his company is in talks with buyers in West Virginia, but nothing is set in stone.
MN8 hopes to begin production by mid-2028.
In the meantime, Hardy Land Alliance is continuing to push back against the proposed farm.
Natalie Leslie can be reached at 304-639-4403.
Tim Seck
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