KING WILLIAM — King William County has drawn up a revised ordinance to help planners regulate the development of future solar farms.
The amended ordinance says solar facilities should not occupy more than 1,000 acres of land and that no more than 3% of the county’s land mass should be approved for large-scale solar energy facilities. Under existing codes, a solar facility can be as large as 1,500 acres.
The county’s planning commission discussed changes to the solar facilities ordinance favored by the King William Board of Supervisors on July 2. The revised ordinance states solar facilities must have buffers of at least 150 feet from property lines or roads and 100 feet from wetlands. It contains a detailed landscaping and tree protection plan and states solar facilities must not be over 20 feet high.
The revised ordinance also includes new rules for battery storage facilities for the first time.
Rural counties in Virginia initially embraced solar farms but have become more skeptical in recent years. New Kent and James City counties have drawn up new ordinances to control the development of solar energy.
King William’s draft ordinance would likely curtail facilities such as the Sweet Sue Solar farm the county backed in 2020 which is on 1,330 acres west of Richmond Tappahannock Highway and will generate 75 megawatts of electricity — enough to power nearly 19,000 homes, according to Dominion Energy.
Planning commissioner and Supervisor Ben Edwards asked for provisions related to fire training for blazes at solar facilities to be added to the ordinance at the July 2 meeting.
Planning Director Sherry Graham said King William currently has three solar farms. She was asked how much land the county has left for solar development.
“I did not do the math to see what we have left. We do have room for a couple more, if I had to guess maybe two or three,” she said.
The commission unanimously backed the revised solar facilities ordinance.
David Macaulay, [email protected]
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