Bedford County supervisors have voted down a proposed ordinance that would have allowed large, utility-scale solar projects in the county. The reasons included concern over losing agricultural land and the impact of large solar fields on rural vistas. (This decision has no/no impact on individual homeowners installing solar panels on a roof, which is regularly approved by county planners.
The Bedford planning commission researched a proposed ordinance by visiting counties, such as Campbell and Appomattox, where large solar projects have been installed. They found that one key problem has been erosion and sediment control, an issue with every large solar project constructed to date in Virginia. (See this video for images of stormwater flooding caused by a large solar project in Louisa County and this summary of the Department of Environmental Quality’s assessment of the risks of flooding and runoff from solar project construction.)
“Bedford County supervisors kill proposed utility-scale solar farm ordinance,” The News & Advance, 3 Mar 2022, by Shannon Kelly
Bedford County supervisors this week effectively ended the prospect of future large solar farms within the county when they declined to advertise a public hearing on a proposed utility-scale solar farm ordinance.
A public hearing on a solar ordinance drafted by the county’s planning commission and staff planning department would have been the next step toward either passing or voting down the possibility of building larger solar farms, which can span multiple acres, producing greater amounts of power than smaller installations such as solar panels on a single homeowner’s roof.
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