The proposed River Trail Solar Project from Energix Renewables would generate an estimated $3.75 million in tax revenue over its 35-year lifetime, according to the company.
The Carroll County Board of Supervisors heard those figures and learned more about the proposed River Trail Solar Project during the board’s July 10 meeting. Eliana Ginis, a solar developer for Energix North America, told supervisors the project would be located northwest of the intersection of Creekview Drive and Hebron Road in Carroll County. She said it will have a capacity of 20 megawatts, which is enough to power approximately 3,000 homes. The proposed project is located on approximately 169 acres of private property.
“The project will generate significant tax revenue to Carroll County. In its first year alone, the project will contribute roughly $141,000 in revenue as this is compared to just under $6,000 under its existing use,” Ginis told supervisors. “Over its approximate 35-year lifetime, River Trail Solar will contribute an estimated $3.75 million in additional tax revenue to Carroll County, which is 18 times more than it would be under its current land use.”
Currently, Ginis told the board the company is in the process of acquiring the land disturbance permit, site plan approval and building permit. Energix expects the commercial operation date of the project to be in 2024, with closing of the land disturbance permit slated for late 2024 or early 2025.
Ginis also took some time to address some common myths the company hears about solar energy, the first concern being about the safety of solar panels.
“They are made using safe, stable and insoluble compounds,” Ginis said. “They have been extensively studied and consistently have confirmed the safety of these panels. It’s not a new technology. Solar panels have been in the field for decades. Another misconception we hear is that solar energy is expensive. It is reliable and inexpensive, and projects, especially utility scale projects, use economies of scale to ensure it is a cost-competitive energy source. Right now it is the cheapest form of energy according to the report that comes out every year.”
Another question Energix is asked frequently is will living close to a solar panel project affect property value? She said there’s been an abundance of research in Virginia and North Carolina and other states that show no negative impact on surrounding property values.
“The characteristics that typically correlate to down trends in property values include noise, odor, traffic and impacts on view shed. Solar projects don’t have any noise, odor or increase traffic once construction is finished, and to mitigate any impacts on view shed, there is often vegetation planted or preserved surrounding the property to ensure there is no impact on adjacent properties or adjacent public right of ways.”
First Solar, which makes most of the solar panels for Energix, offers recycling to all customers. Other misconceptions she said folks have include concerns about electromagnetic interference （which she said are comparable to EMIs emitted by everyday household appliances） and increased stormwater runoff （she said the soil underneath the panels allows the water to be absorbed）。 Attorney Scott Foster spoke to supervisors about legislation Energix proposes in working with Carroll County.
“Carroll is special and one of the few jurisdictions we are currently working in that does not have zoning. So what we are going to talk to you about now is how we are going to help you effectually have zoning-type control over the River Trail Project without actually having zoning,” Foster said. “In 2020, our firm drafted legislation in consultation with several other localities in Virginia to receive large scale utility solar projects largely based out of necessity of both developers and localities realized, so solar developers were entering into voluntary agreements with localities to kind of shape the form of development of solar and to provide additional economic benefits for the land use.”
Foster said the voluntary agreements were enforceable as a contract, but there was a better model available. Based on that, his firm was able to put together signing agreement legislation that is a contract between the developer and local government that would wrap around a conditional or special use permit. This allows for special mitigation terms, financial compensation to a locality, and the key benefit being additional flexibility of how those funds can be applied, especially in the event that a developer doesn’t decommission the project.
“The other thing we can put in here is terms that bind them to develop the project that they presented to you all. So essentially binding them to say, ‘Okay, here is our site plan, this is the project we are going to build based on this design.’ That gives you all some control over how the project looks and functions, and implicit in that is things like setback. The other piece of this signing agreement, and this is the biggest piece for most localities with zoning, is the financial component.”
Such an agreement would require a public hearing.
Laurel Fork District Supervisor Jody Early wanted to know why the company held a public hearing on the issue in Galax instead of Carroll County. Ginis said that hearing was for a different permit, the PBR permit required by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality （DEQ）。 The actual public hearing would be held at a location determined by Carroll supervisors, she said.
“You said we were special because we don’t have zoning,” Early said. “How big of a factor was that in choosing Carroll County.”
Ginis said Energix has some projects with zoning and some without. It wasn’t a factor, she said, adding the major component was working with utility groups to identify where the power could be used and “injected into the grid.”
Added Foster, “The folks who do this land use work find that permitting solar in areas without zoning, because you still have to do （Code） review, can be more difficult because the counties without zoning maybe feel like they are caught flatfooted with the new land use they want to exercise some control over,” Foster said. “So it can actually be more difficult, in my opinion, to permit projects in counties without zoning, which is why this agreement comes in so handy so we can effectuate zoning-type controls without actually having zoning.”
Early asked about an earlier comment about posts that would be four to six feet in the ground. He wanted to know if there is a concrete footer with that or would they just be driven into the ground. Ginis said there is no concrete, so the poles are driven into the ground.
He also wanted to know if decommissioning would take the entire post.
“Yes and we try to be flexible,” Ginis said. “Some localities require us to remove the entire post. Some require if it is broken in the ground and is less than three feet, it remains in the ground, but that is up to you all.”
With the panels having a useful life of 35 to 45 years, Early also wanted to know if the company ever replaces and continues on instead of decommissioning.
“Sometimes we do anticipate retooling might be needed so the main limiting factor is really the contract with the landowner,” Ginis said. “So if this lease is for 35 years, that is really the duration the project.”
The county does not have any oversight into the renewal of the lease, she said, answering another of Early’s questions. She said that is up to the landowner.
Supervisor Rex Hill asked, “Are you going to sell those 169 acres just to set that?”
“Not for the entire parcel,” Ginis said. “The parcel is over 200 acres. We are only going to develop about 169. That was really done to have avoidance or any big setbacks from any residential properties or the state park that is there, so we have really large setbacks to make sure we are not near any homes, and the same thing with roads. No part of the project is near a road.”
Hill asked how long the River Trail Solar Project has been ongoing. Ginis said Energix first approached the landowner about two years ago. In the meantime, it has been working with the utility to go through different steps in the process, then working with DEQ to make sure it’s a viable project.
“One of the concerns I have heard voiced publicly to this body and at the Planning Commission is the impact on agriculture of these types of developments,” County Attorney Stephen Durbin said. “Maybe you can address that. I’m not sure if this would be a facility that would be suited for ongoing agriculture use as well, or once it was decommissioned it could go back to agriculture as well.”
Ginis said after decommissioning, ag land is pretty much ready right away. She pointed to a study by Virginia Tech soil experts that concluded after a project is decommissioned after 35 years without being farmed, there will be roots and vegetation and grasses that allow topsoil to grow.
“So at the end it will still be suitable for grazing or hay production, and for other types of farming and crops it might require additional soil,” she said.
During a presentation on Energix Renewables, Ginis said the company is headquartered in Arlington with its engineering headquarters in Roanoke. She said the company has nine operational projects across the Commonwealth, and six more that will be under construction this year.
“There are also a lot of benefits solar has to the localities in which the projects are located. As Energix we are the long-term owner and operator of our site so we really strive to be a good neighbor and make a lasting impact on the communities in which our projects are located,” Ginis said. “Solar brings increased tax revenue to counties. We have seen solar bringing in anywhere from 10 to 70 times more revenue than the current land use that our solar projects are cited on. And in addition to bringing in additional tax revenue, solar projects don’t place any strain on existing county infrastructure so they don’t use water or sewer line, no extra strain on the school system, no increase in traffic after construction. We also hire locally as much as possible and use local contractors so we are bringing construction jobs and having contractors stay in the locality so they stimulate the local hospitality sector. And also going back to being a low-impact development, there is no permanent building on the site and no workers on the site after the construction period. There are only people coming on site once in a while to make sure of maintenance and landscaping.”
