Citing a half-mile proximity to two other solar farms, Isle of Wight County’s Planning Commission is urging supervisors to reject a third bordering Orbit Road.
The commission voted 7-2 on July 23 to recommend denial of a permit for Elk Development LLC, a subsidiary of Denver-based Pivot Energy, to build a 3-megawatt facility on 28 acres less than 2 miles from the county government complex where the commissioners meet.
County staff too had urged denial, writing in a report to the Planning Commission that the project would result in a “saturation of uses in the same general neighborhood” and use “narrow rural roadways with limited pull-off and passing areas” to haul solar panels on trucks to the site. According to the report, the proposed site is a half-mile from the 20-acre, 2-megawatt Nuby Run solar farm county supervisors approved in 2022 for Orbit Road, which isn’t active yet, and 0.6 miles from the 193-acre, 20-megawatt Solidago facility at the corner of Orbit and Redhouse roads, which supervisors approved in 2018 and began generating electricity in 2023.
Planning Commission Chairman Bobby Bowser and Vice Chairman Thomas Distefano joined Commissioners George Rawls, Rick Sienkiewicz, Raynard Gibbs and Brian Carroll in supporting Commissioner Jennifer Boykin’s motion to recommend denial, citing the concerns raised in the county report. Commissioners Matthew Smith and Cynthia Taylor cast the dissenting votes. Commissioner James Ford was absent.
The project’s developer, however, contends the reason so many solar developers are seeking to locate along the Orbit Road corridor is because there’s a nearby substation that will allow them to easily tie into the power grid.
“Every developer is trying to be as close to the substation as possible,” said Robert Hickox, Pivot’s project development manager.
The July 23 vote marks the Planning Commission’s fourth unfavorable recommendation for proposed solar farms in the past two months.
In May, the commissioners recommended denial of a 44-megawatt project dubbed Moonlight Solar at Moonlight and Burwells Bay roads, and Sycamore Cross, which would span more than 2,000 acres across the westernmost edge of the Isle of Wight-Surry county line. County supervisors upheld the commission’s recommendation on Moonlight in June but have deferred voting on Sycamore. The commission also voted in June to recommend denial of another 3-megawatt Pivot project slated for 27 acres bordering Old Stage Highway and Morgarts Beach Road, just under a mile from Hardy Elementary. That project is slated to go to the supervisors on Aug. 15.
Pivot estimates the Orbit Road site, if developed as a solar farm, would generate $227,900 in tax revenue for the county over the project’s 25-year lifespan. Pivot has proposed a siting agreement that would include an additional $135,000 upfront payment to the county and $15,000 to Virginia Cooperative Extension.
County supervisors amended Isle of Wight’s zoning ordinance to include a 2,446-acre, or 2%, cap on the cumulative amount of prime farmland devoted to solar, just over 2,200 of which are already spoken for. According to the report by county staff, Pivot’s Orbit Road site, if converted into a solar farm, would remove 27 acres of corn fields from agricultural use. Eleven acres of the project site are considered prime farmland. Another 17 are considered prime if drained.
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