Solar developers continue targeting True Blue community

A resident who would be directly impacted by installation of the proposed BayWa Sunfish Solar utility scale power plant along True Blue Road received the letter and flyer below in February 2024 from a different solar developer. In addition, the True Blue community had previously been targeted by developer S-Power seeking land leases. The solar vultures continue their circling over productive farmland in Orange County.

Fight back against utility-scale solar developer efforts by supporting the proposed language for an addition to the Comprehensive Plan that identifies county priorities for siting public utilities. The draft states, "... when considering placement and/or approval of public utilities, prevention and/or mitigation of negative impacts to existing county businesses and adjacent property owners will be heavily weighted and placed at the forefront of the County's consideration." Attend the 2/15 Planning Commission meeting to support protection of productive farmland, historic and natural resources and businesses that contribute to the vibrant character of Orange County VA! Read about the 2/15 Planning Commission public hearing on this topic.

Planning Commission meeting 2/15: 2/16 UPDATE on proposed adjustment to the Orange County VA Comprehensive Plan regarding public utilities & proposed solar project on Mayhurst Lane

UPDATE: At the February 15 Planning Commission meeting, the commissioners denied the Orange Road/ESA Solar project and approved baseline language to guide solar siting for insertion into the Comprehensive Plan. The meeting room was full of county residents opposed to the solar project proposed for a hillside above the Mayhurst Inn. Numerous residents shared their thoughts during the public hearing. Regarding the language to guide solar considerations in the Comp Plan, a few changes were made to the proposed language shared in the post below and we will pass along the final text as soon as a copy is available. (Some of the changes suggested were not available in writing to the public prior to or during the meeting.)

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Original post:

This meeting will hold public hearings. The first is related to Orange Road Solar, also known as ESA Solar, a 5MW project on 70+ acres with agricultural zoning on Mayhurst Lane, in close proximity to historic estate & inn Mayhurst as well as Prospect Heights Middle School. The first hearing will be to determine whether the application is in substantial accord with the Comprehensive Plan and the second hearing will be on the special use permit application for the project. (Ed. note - there ended up being only one hearing related to this project.)

Options to express your view: come and participate in the public hearing in person, or sending a comment via email prior to the meeting to zoning@orangecountyva.gov. Written comments must be received by 5 pm on February 14. The hearing will take place at the Orange County Public Safety Building, 11282 Government Center Drive in Orange.

The second hearing will be regarding the draft language for the Comp Plan, this is the first visible step the county has taken to identify key considerations with public utility projects. If passed it will guide future deliberations. Very important to weigh in!

Background: At the January 18, 2024 Planning Commission meeting, the commission discussed a memo dated January 8, 2024 from Josh Frederick, Planning & Zoning Services Manager for Orange County, which was accompanied by proposed draft language to be added to the county's Comprehensive Plan regarding public utilities. The commission voted to move the matter to public hearing (no date identified yet).

The memo to the county Planning Commission reads as follows:

Summary

In late 2023 the Planning Commission assembled an ad-hoc subcommittee to develop new policies to guide decision making on utility scale solar and other public utility facility applications. The primary goal of these policies is to establish some baseline considerations by which all applications will be analyzed. With the guidance of planning staff, these proposed facilities were incorporated into a Comprehensive Plan amendment as the most appropriate medium. All public utility facilities are permitted via special use permit (SUP) and consistency with the Comprehensive Plan is one of the most important consideration for the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors in approving or denying SUP applications.

The initial draft of the policies produced by the subcommittee is attached. The proposal adds a new section to the Public Facilities section of the Comp. Plan, specifically to subsection F (Community Infrastructure) along with a bulletized list of proposed policies.

Recommendation

Should the Planning Commission determine a Comp. Plan amendment is appropriate, general consensus to pursue the application would be needed. The Commission could then choose to schedule additional work sessions on the proposal or ready it for a public hearing at a future meeting.

Draft CPA 24-01 amendment language

Public Utility Facilities

Orange County recognizes that if public utilities are not considered and sited properly that they can negatively impact existing businesses, economic development, environmental resources, historic resources, and citizen well-being. Accordingly, when considering placement and/or approval of public utilities, the prevention and/or mitigation of negative impacts to existing County businesses and adjacent property owners will be heavily weighted and placed at the forefront of the County's consideration. The following elements, while not all inclusive, require special attention when considering the operations, siting, and/or placement of public utilities (it should not be construed that consideration of these alone will result in approval or a favorable decision in relation to a public utility):

• Protection of productive farmland including but not limited to the preservation of existing soil compositions particularly topsoil and the preservation of land within designated agricultural regions.

• Protection of historic resources including but not limited to preserving the integrity of designated historic districts, sites, and structures.

• Protection of tourism-related businesses (particularly agritourism and history tourism) and the associated tourism corridor viewsheds.

• Protection of adjacent properties to include the viewsheds from adjacent properties.

• Protection of wetlands, floodplain areas, and dam break indundation areas.

• Limitation of disruption to environmental/wildlife resources, to include limiting destruction or disturbance of intact woodland and freshwater habitats.

• Encouragement of a recycling life cycle approach to include the reutilization or recycling of public utility equipment and components at their end of life.

• Insurance that adequate funds are available to decommission a public utility at the end of its life or if the site becomes otherwise inoperable, in order to return the land to its original condition pre-development condition.

• Encouragement of the continuation or incorporation of farming activities for public utilities proposed on existing agricultural land. For example, utilization of marketable animals around solar plant arrays to control vegetation.

• Ensuring that adequate public resources arre available to mitigate or prevent environmental, fire, safety and/or other hazards that may be associated with public utilities. For example, ensuring a public utility includes the provision of required first responder equipment and/or training for specialized equipment or installations.

Concerns about Sunfish Solar parent company BayWa r.e.

Lack of experience with utility-scale decommissioning - do the math: Regarding the company's renewable energy work, an interview posted on discovercleantech.com with one of BayWa r.e.'s managing directors (Spain) reports that the company was building solar in Germany by 2007. The managing director is quoted: "BayWa r.e.,which is the renewables part of BayWa AG, our German corporate owner, was created in 2009." The US Department of Energy reports that the estimate lifespan of a photovoltaic module is 30-35 years. Therefore, even the earliest project developed by BayWa would not yet have reached the decommissioning phase. Their first large project (100mw) in the United States began operations in 2020. Can their decommissioning plan & numbers be trusted? A failure to cover decommissioning costs would fall on county taxpayers.

Will Baywa's stormwater measures fail? In November 2022, plaintiffs in a lawsuit against BayWa were awarded "$6.5 million in damages they suffered from the construction of solar farm on adjacent property, which altered the landscape and caused flooding damage to their land," as reported in the San Diego Union Tribune. From the Tribune article: "What they (BayWa- ed.) told the county was different than what they ended up doing," said a lawyer for the plaintiffs." Read more about this case. Faulty or incomplete stormwater measures will erode the land, contributing to loss of fertile soil, increasing potential for flooding, and potentially causing damage to properties and animal habitat.