- By Eric Scicchitano, The Daily Item
Solar energy farms could soon sprout from farmland stretched beneath high voltage power lines across the Valley as renewable energy companies are pitching lease proposals to local property owners.
Supervisors in both East and West Chillisquaque townships worked jointly with respective planning commissions and a solar industry representative to create zoning ordinance amendments regulating ground-mounted solar farm systems to get ahead of the installation of such developments.
The amendments call for restrictions on glare, establishes minimum setbacks and stormwater requirements and sets requirements for decommissioning and removing solar systems.
“There were five (companies) that talked to me to lease my ground, but I wasn’t interested,” said Bob Pardoe, secretary of the West Chillisquaque Township Planning Commission.
Pardoe estimated 10 property owners in his township were seriously considering proposals.
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A Massachusetts-based firm, Nexamp: Solar Energy Solutions, mailed exploratory letters to property owners in Union County offering an estimated $1,500 per acre annually. The letter said the firm typically seeks 5 to 25 acres.
Legislation signed by Gov. Tom Wolf in 2017 and implemented in 2018 by the Public Utility Commission closed the Keystone State’s borders on solar tax credits.
The move raises the value of such credits, in part, by restricting participation in the state’s renewable energy tax credit program to systems built in Pennsylvania. In the past, Pennsylvania was an open border state and credits could be used from systems in 13 surrounding states and the District of Columbia, according to the PennFuture Energy Center.
Bid prices on such credits were at $35 Thursday compared to $22 on the same date in 2017, according to online market site SREC Trade.
Keith Hevenor, Nexamp communication manager, said this change and other bills pending in the state legislature make Pennsylvania a favorable place to build solar energy farms.
“The legislation has to be in place to be able to turn the energy we are generating into credits that can be monetized,” Hevenor said.
Nexamp hasn’t finalized developments in the Valley, but is currently pursuing agreements in the PPL Electric service area, including the greater Sunbury area, he said.
Free-standing solar farms
Solar panels can be found on rooftops throughout the Valley. What makes the proposed solar farms different is that they’re free-standing.
Hevenor said Nexamp’s systems don’t create large permanent environmental footprints. Concrete pads measuring about 100 square feet are poured for equipment that directs the energy from the panels to the power lines. The panels themselves are affixed to poles that are sunk into the ground without a concrete foundation. The wiring is above ground, he added.
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Hevenor said the company establishes funds to remove the systems at no cost to the landowners when a lease ends or isn’t renewed. Leases last about 20 to 40 years on average, he added.
West Chillisquaque Township Supervisor Vaughn Murray said, in working to develop the ordinance amendment, the closest municipality with relative solar regulations was in Cumberland County.
The township has strict stormwater regulations, Murray said, and the farms as proposed are a unique fit.
“It’s not like you’re paving a parking lot. There’s still a chance for water to infiltrate the ground, but it’s not going to infiltrate the way it would in a field of corn,” Murray said.
Farm registration
Cindy Kahley administers the Agland Preservation program for Union County Conservation District. Registered farms are restricted from developing free-standing solar farms, she said. The program has about 8,000 acres of registered farmland. Farms not registered in the program must abide by municipal ordinance, she added.
Kahley said she’s aware of companies approaching landowners in Gregg, Buffalo and Kelly townships.
“A lot of the land I’ve seen that they have been approaching are prime and statewide soils, which are the best soils for farming,” Kahley said. “It would be a huge impact to take that land out of production, which has good prime soils, and have it sit there with free-standing panels.”
That’s not the case in West Chillisquaque Township in Northumberland County, according to Pardoe. The “majority” of land targeted there hasn’t been prime farmland, he said.
Shawn McLaughlin, Union County’s planning and economic development director, said solar farms are worth exploring, but that he’d rather it happen on rooftops or other developed sites.
“I’d prefer to see solar panels and arrays on those first rather than taking up our best farmland or best development sites,” McLaughlin said.
A public hearing on West Chillisquaque’s ordinance proposal will be held tonight followed by a joint meeting of the supervisors and planning commission members Tuesday morning to further discuss related issues.
