PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — A proposed solar farm in Prince George County is drawing opposition from residents who say it’ll impact their quality of life.
RWE Clean Energy is proposing new energy infrastructure near Pumphouse Road and Thweatt Drive. The project, called Bakers Pond Solar Farm, would deliver 100 megawatts — enough to produce reliable, pollution-free electricity up to about 20,000 homes — according to RWE.
Some residents are voicing their opposition to the proposal, saying it will hurt their quality of life and threaten the future for local farmers and hunters.
Michelle Coker lives next to where RWE proposes placing some of its panels. As she fights cancer, Coker said the importance of keeping the solar farm away has grown.
“I’m in stage four. It’ll take me one day and this is my oasis. I don’t want to see that taken away. We’ll have noise that shouldn’t be here,” she said.
According to RWE, “Bakers Pond Solar Farm will be virtually silent outside the fence line, while setbacks and vegetative screening will minimize viewshed impacts.”
Dawn Aucoin, who lives in front of the proposed site, said she’s not against renewable energy sources — she’s against the location of this one.
“We were flabbergasted. We checked the zoning in the area before we bought our home. Nobody wants to live next to a solar farm,” said Aucoin.
The Prince George County Planning Commission was tasked with determining whether the proposal is in substantial accord with the comprehensive plan.
The Planning Commission voted unanimously at the end of October and determined that the proposal is not in “substantial accord” with the comprehensive plan, citing some of the most relevant guidelines laid out in the county’s Siting Policy.
The commission said if it approves the Bakers Pond Solar Farm, it would take up the proposed maximum of 506 acres of land, exceeding the county’s limit for the size a solar facility by about 22.3 acres.
The commission also said the project is located on the boundary of the planning area, which the county’s policy says to avoid. RWE’s application materials said about 35% of the project acreage is in the rural conservation area and about 65% is in the Prince George planning area.
“It is an agricultural rural area, which should stay that way,” Coker said.
In early November, RWE filed an appeal to the Board of Supervisors, requesting that they reconsider the Planning Commission’s decision. In order for RWE Clean Energy’s solar farm plan to move forward, they would need to win the appeal from the county’s Board of Supervisors.
The board has scheduled a public hearing on Tuesday, December 12th. They plan to make a decision following the public hearing.
