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BLACK CREEK TWP. — Where Red Rock Road dead ends after passing open fields and homes, crossing above Interstate 80 and turning past a graveyard and shuttered white church, Rob Hickox told a homeowner about his company’s plans to plant 91,000 solar panels in the surroundings.
Hickox is project developer for Ampliform, which tentatively agreed to lease 589 acres for a solar project that could take two years to install and then generate 100 megawatts of electricity for 35 years or more.
Black Creek Twp. Zoning Board scheduled a hearing on Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. about the proposal for land bounded by Nescopeck Twp. line on the north, Sugarloaf Twp. line on the east, I-80 on the west and Red Rock Road on the south.
On the morning of Nov. 4 after talking with a homeowner, Hickox said he had been walking along Red Rock Road to hear what neighbors think of the plan. Even if they don’t like the project, he wants to know what might make it tolerable for them, such as planting trees as screens or setting panels farther from property lines.
“The project will meet all dimensional requirements,” according to a zoning application for the solar farm, which is proposed on land zoned A-1 for agriculture and C-1 for conservation. A map shows setbacks from the solar panel areas such as a 200 feet to an occupied structure and 100 feet from a property line. Fencing 7 feet tall enclosed nine different solar arrays spread across the map.
A legal notice in the Standard-Speaker said the site is composed of 14 parcels. Luzerne County tax records say most are owned by Black Creek Limited Partnership, which has the same address as Larock Family Limited Partnership and has granted Ampliform an option for a solar lease with 35 years, not counting extensions. Shannon Larock is listed as the property owner on the zoning application.
Hickox said some of the project will extend to Sugarloaf Twp. so Ampliform, headquartered in Ardmore, Montgomery County will apply for zoning approval there, too.
Bearded and wearing a ball cap, Hickox stopped while walking back to his vehicle at a turn in the road and pointed to a path skirting the graveyard next to St. Paul’s United Church of Christ. That’s where workers will build one of the access roads to reach the solar fields. Hickox said evergreens or other native trees could be planted there to screen the 132-year-old church and cemetery from the solar arrays.
Panels will stand 10 to 12 feet tall. Some track the sun. Others tilt up as tall as 15 feet, he said.
Initially, eight to 10 workers might arrive to begin clearing and grading land for the solar sites, he said. The sites are relatively flat and won’t require much grading. But the company will apply for sediment and erosion control permits from Luzerne County. Tree cutting and all other disturbances to natural areas will be done in conjunction with Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection to protect species of endangered bats or bald eagles, one of which flew overhead earlier in the morning.
Once workers begin installing solar panels, 50 to 100 of them might work on the site for four shifts of 10 hours a day or five shifts of eight hours on weekdays, Hickox said.
A truck can carry crates containing up to 100 solar panels so delivering all 91,000 panels might take more than 910 trips during the two-year construction period.
Hickox said the company will map a delivery route with the township, take photos of the roads before construction and post a bond to repair any wear and tear caused by the deliveries.
Justin Behrens, who accompanied Hickox, said after the construction ends one truck will arrive monthly to inspect and maintain solar panels. A former chair of the Luzerne County Republican Party, Behrens is with Access National Energy Partners, which is assisting Ampliform.
Ampliform started in 2022 as a joint venture to develop solar projects in North America. Prospect14, a solar energy developer from Ardmore, entered the joint venture with energy investors that include George Kaiser Family Foundation, Jones Family Office and Barings.
For the project here, Ampliform spun off LU-Tank LLC. LU stands for Luzerne County and Tank for the nearby Tank Road, Hickox said.
He said the company will pay tool and machine tax on panels and equipment without requiring services from the township government of other uses for the land such as housing, which brings residents whose needs add to the demands on water and sewer systems, police forces, schools and healthcare providers.
Erika Cook, who lives on Red Rock Road and has been active in groups trying to stop a powerline through her property and data centers that the line would serve, has read the application for the solar project and plans to attend the zoning hearing. She wondered what happens if fire starts in the solar fields, which are protected by small volunteer fire companies.
Hickox said panels are made of tempered glass that don’t burn, nor do the silicon components in them that generate electricity. Nonetheless, Ampliform makes emergency response plans and provides a system where emergency responders and PPL Electric Utilities can enter the locked gates of the solar fields.
The map in the zoning application shows where the solar farm will connect to PPL’s line. Hickox said Ampliform, not ratepayers, will pay any costs of the tie-in.
A study that takes up most of the pages in the application concludes that the solar panels won’t direct glare or glint to homes on Red Rock Road and Cabin Lane, to aircraft or to cars that could be heard buzzing along I-80 as Hickox and Behrens walked through the neighborhood on a day with autumn leaves but summer temperatures.
Cook, noting that panels tracking the rising sun will face her house, which is east of the proposed solar arrays, wonders if the study is correct about glare.
Compared to the data centers that Cook has been opposing, like Project Hazelnut that might use 1,980 MW, she thinks Ampliform’s project requires a lot of effort to generate 100 MW.
Her comment puts into context the enormity of data center projects. Hazelnut, for example, could consume 88% of the power generated by the two nuclear reactors in Salem Twp.
Ampliform’s solar project would, however, generate enough electricity for about 20,000 homes, and its output would equal more than one fifth of the solar energy systems added to Pennsylvania in 2024-25 when the state’s solar projects generated more than 2,000 MW for the first time.
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