SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. – Michael O’Bier has lived here on a hidden piece of land nestled against thousands of acres of trees in rural Virginia for 32 years.
Now, the trees are gone and the 62-year-old O’Bier says he’s packing belongings into cargo trailers. That’s because the site of the largest proposed solar energy project on the East Coast could end up only 62 feet away from the side of his two-story home.
“I would have to leave,” O’Bier told Fox News on a drizzly afternoon this week, looking out over a field of already-cleared trees adjacent to his property. “I can’t live here.”
“I would have to leave,” resident Michael O’Bier told Fox News, as he stood at the side of his property. “I can’t live here.” (Alex Pappas/Fox News)
WHAT IS THE GREEN NEW DEAL? A LOOK AT THE ECONOMIC AND CLIMATE CONCEPT PUSHED BY PROGRESSIVES
The company sPower wants to build a 500-Megawatt solar project on the 6,350-acre site in western Spotsylvania County, with 3,500 acres being used to house 1.8 million solar panels. The land, currently owned by seven different landowners who plan to sell it to the company, has already been cleared for timber in anticipation of the project. sPower has said the project “will be safe, reliable, quiet and screened from public view.”
But a vocal contingent of activist-residents are working to pressure county officials to deny special use permits for sPower, arguing it would have disastrous environmental, economic and cultural impacts on the area. They point out that the proposed site is nearly half the size of Manhattan.
“Once you let the bulldozers loose, it’s really tough to stop the environmental damage,” said Dave Hammond, a 64-year-old retired chemical engineer who lives in the nearby Fawn Lake community.
CALIFORNIA MANDATES SOLAR PANELS FOR HOMES BUILT IN 2020 AND LATER
Hammond, an active project opponent, said the project would be an “an environmental disaster” for the area. Aside from the thousands of acres of trees that have been cleared, the Concerned Citizens of Spotsylvania group is also worried about water usage at the site, erosion, toxic materials, the potential for fires and the decommissioning of equipment if the project were discontinued. They’re also concerned that the price of electricity for residents could rise because of additional burdens on the conventional grid, though sPower insists it will have no impact on consumer rates.
Opponents argue that the project would forever change the character of historic Spotsylvania County, where the Battle of the Wilderness, the Battle of Chancellorsville and the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House took place. “The center of the Civil War is a mile and half from this thing,” said Kevin McCarthy, a 64-year-old retired music director who also lives in Fawn Lake.
They also argue that the county would lose money from lost tax revenue because the solar panel project would lower property values for homeowners — an argument sPower contests. During a driving tour of the area, Sean Fogarty, a 63-year-old retiree with a background in engineering, pointed to a lot purchased by a couple who planned to build a lakeside home not far from the site. Fogarty said the owners have since decided to sell it because of the solar project.
OCASIO-CORTEZ BLASTS TRUMP’S COMPARISON OF GREEN NEW DEAL TO ‘HS TERM PAPER’
The Spotsylvania project would be the largest east of the Rocky Mountains and opponents point out that other solar power plants of comparable size are found in sparsely populated areas like deserts. “You’re changing ecosystems forever, and you’re getting closer and closer to people,” Fogarty said of the decision to build in Virginia.
But Taylor Keeney, a spokeswoman for the project, pushed back against the residents’ concerns in a phone interview with Fox News. She provided a copy of a poll commissioned by sPower that found that 67 percent of registered voters in Spotsylvania County are supportive of the solar power plant.
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She said the construction project will benefit the local economy, employing between 700 and 1,000 workers while taking a year and half to two years to complete — though opponents said they doubt it will lead to many permanent jobs for locals. Microsoft and Apple have announced plans to purchase energy from the project.
Keeney said the opposition to the project is particularly vocal, but others, like Spotsylvania resident David Wilson, whose property also sits next to the proposed site, are for it.
“We are very proud of the possibility of Spotsylvania County paving the way to a future of clean and renewable energy and we hope this board also sees the value of this project,” Wilson wrote in a recent email to the members of the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors.
As for the concerns from the opponents, Keeney said the company doesn’t believe area property values will go down, citing the findings of a local appraiser commissioned to study the issue. “From everything we can tell, there is no evidence of property value declines,” she said.
Read the rest of the story here.
You guys are a bunch of Luddites. They don’t make noise. They don’t homogenize raptors. They don’t incinerate migrating songbirds. They aren’t in my neighborhood. What’s not to like?
The inverters make too much noise. 66 dBA at 10 meters away. Adverse health effects begin at 40 dBA. An inverter must be about 800 feet away to get to the safe 39 dBA noise level. Just because it is safe doesn’t mean it reduces quality of life. Widsoread complaints begin at 34 dBA. I would never live within a mile of this.
The things that I learn here.
Really? I live within a mile of a solar farm and certainly don’t notice any noise from it . Of course a car passing at 30mph along the road 100 yds away will generate 62dBA and a medium truck ~73dBA.
First utility scale inverter I found in a search specifies 65dB(A) @ur momisugly 1m for 185 KVA rating.
Cite please. Typical ambient noise levels during the day are at least 10 dba higher. Normal conversation is around 60 dba.
Outdoors the inverse square law is pretty close. In this case it would be closer to 375 feet.
Greg F,
The array will produce 500 MVA. How much noise will 2,700 185 kVA inverters make?
A rather silly question as there is obviously required information lacking in your question. I can tell you it won’t be anywhere close to 68 dba higher that a simple power ratio calculation would indicate.
And you can farm sheep or chickens round them, or the plants form a wildflower/beetle bank. It would be unusual in the UK to cut down timber to build one and you wouldn’t be allowed to on prime agricultural land.
Example:
https://www.mhpa.co.uk/liddeston-ridge-solar-array/
Farming and solar (from UK farmers association)
https://www.nfuonline.com/cross-sector/farm-business/energy-and-renewables/energy-and-renewables-news/solar-lamb-or-pv-chicken/
“They point out that the proposed site is nearly half the size of Manhattan.”
Manhattan … Is not this one of the places where can be observed the greatest concentration of warmistas?
So, this project should be achieved where people most want it : say, in Manhattan central Park (3,41 km²) ?
OK, that’s 10km² less than required (3500 acres), but the good thing is that warmistas could finally taste the joys of “adopting clean energy to save the planet”.
/SARC off
That area of the county is not exactly known for its abundant sunshine
Look at the sky in the picture of the home owner. How many winter days does it look like that?
And what do you call those things on the surrounding trees, you know the green things that fall off every autumn and litter everything in sight.
The photo on the home page shows a large array with cropland on either side. No trees to cut down.
Oh, the photo has nothing to do with this other than being a big array. Very misleading….
Green logic: 3500 acres of mined aluminum, concrete, toxic chemicals, and glass is better for the environment than 3500 acres of trees.
I live in North Carolina. I did the math for putting solar on my house. It would take me 30 years with the tax subsidy before I see a return-on-investment. That was factoring in the panel degradation over time. Of course, the panels only last 20 years. The climate of North Carolina is similar to Virginia, except Virginia is colder because it is further from the equator. Which, of course, means that solar is even less effective there. Solar panels would need to be twice as efficient before they become financial beneficial.
FYI, I also did the math between a new Toyota Camry and a Camry hybrid. I found out that at $2.509/US gallon, it would take you about 175,000 miles before you the make your money back paying extra for the hybrid. I chose that number because gas prices in North Carolina will probably hover around that during the summer even though it is lower than that now. But the batteries need to be changed at about 150,000 miles. If gasoline starts to cost $3.009/gallon, it would be about 145,000 miles before you pay off the extra cost of a hybrid. Essentially, as long as gas prices are below $3.00 and 9/10 of a cent — why do they charge 9/10 of a cent? — then you are better off not getting a hybrid version of a vehicle.
I could see where that might be a moving target. If gasoline prices exceed $3/gal, will electricity cost the same or more or less? The current trend for electricity seems to be up, probably due to the steady increase of non-dispatchable power as well as the aging infrastructure.
Answer to your question – for the same reason that merchants price goods at X.99, not (X + 1).00. Quirk of human psychology that translates to a significant difference in their gross revenues.
Quick search gave me estimates of between $150 and $500 million more in annual revenues from that 9/10 of a cent that the vast majority of people don’t really notice at the pump.
Yes Wade, the economics don’t exactly work in the favor of hybrids. That has been known since I first looked into one in maybe 2005.
The Prius made huge sales in large part because it was a unique vehicle. It wasn’t a hybrid flavor of a gas-powered car like with the Camry. You could compare the Prius (as many did) to a Corolla in terms of bang for the buck and how high gas prices would be/how many miles would have to be accumulated before the price difference became cost-effective, but the Corolla lacked the hatchback and practicality the Prius brought to the table. Note that Toyota now makes a Corolla hatchback, so that is out the window.
For the record, my hybrid battery lasted 9 yrs and 177,000 miles. I drive my Prius pretty harshly, for what that’s worth. I am sure the hybrid batteries being produced today last much longer than they did for the 2010 models. I spent $2.2k on a 3rd-party replacement that has a 4yr, unlimited mileage warranty.
It should be against the law to replace Nature’s own proven “solar panels” (trees) with our pieces of crap. This is just stupid. I can see solar out in the plains, desert, middle if the ocean …. but not in a beautiful tree belt, like VIrgina.
Repeat of others …. this is pure stupidity on display.
yes, you are right. trees perform a vital function and look good as well. this isn’t the place for what is an eye wateringly large piece of industrial infrastructure which will shortly have an on-going impact on the local habitat.
you don’t save the environment by trashing the countryside.
Just think, when the GND hits Virginia, they’ll only need about 50 more 500 megawatt solar projects to replace all the bad fossil fuel and nuclear power plants. At 3500 acres each that comes out to 280 square miles.
Bet that will bring out the screams from the tree huggers.
That 500 megawatt figure is NAMEPLATE capacity, not actual output capacity. In Virginia figure 4 to 5 suns per day, which would yield between 83 and 104 actual megawatts of average power.
I know this area well. This is an absolute travesty.
I don’t care for the unrelated links throughout the story.
I’m surprised the Civil War/American Battlefield Trust is not fighting this one. https://www.battlefields.org/
I wondered if it snowed in Virginia: https://www.onthesnow.com/virginia/skireport.html I can only guess the employment they speak of is seasonal ‘low tech’ snow removal and panel washing. (and that is if they bother, who cares if it produces when your guaranteed payment)
Excerpted from article:
And just where is James Hansen et el and all the other “tree hugging” environmentalists that have been actively PROTESTING mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining sites in Ky, Va and WV that are not 1/10th the size of that 3,500 acres sPower site?
Same process occurring at both locations, …… “clear-cut” the green growing biomass and then bulldoze the topsoil away, down to smooth “hardpan”.
And where are the solar panels made? As far as I can tell, we don’t have much of a solar panel manufacturing industry here in the U.S. (remember Solyndra?). I suspect the utility is buying panels made in China, but I don’t know for sure.
There is yet another solar panel maker that shut down its operations in Portland, Oregon, a while back:
https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2017/08/10/solarworld-ripple-effect-hillsboro-supplier.html.
I recall reading that it will cost about $500,000 to clean up the toxic mess the Hillsboro plant left behind.
So we have many acres of trees that need to be cleared for solar farms and the toxic waste the panels leave behind. Add in grid stability issues when the sun goes down or when the weather clouds up. Total it all up and you have idiocy on a pretty large scale. Green energy?? Ummm, yea. Right. And AOC is a Republican.
I live on the edge of BLM land in the California Mojave desert. I keep waiting for the signs to go up for one of these projects right next to our neighborhood. I’ve been here for 30 years and have fought in the long losing battle to keep access where gov and NGO forces use desert tortoise and ground squirrel habitat to close down access. For the last 10 years or so solar and wind projects apparently have no impact on these populations and can build hundreds of miles of roads and blade off any number of thousands of acres (sarc).
I assume that “500 megawatts capacity” figure is nameplate capacity. In reality the average output
would be based on 4 to 5 “suns” year round, or somewhat less than 100 megawatts of actual output.
Virginia has several nuclear reactor sites (North Anna, Surrey) and was planning on adding another
reactor at North Anna. Virginia’s nuclear plants provide 41% of Virginia’ power. That additional reactor would likely have a actual capacity of 1200 megawatts and would produce that amount at all times, resulting in 12 times more power generated than that from this huge solar farm. Adding that additional reactor at North Anna would have required no additional land. They provide two land sizes for the solar farm. 3500 acres for the panels. I don’t know whether the other 3000 acres is required or not. If it is, then you would have to find 12 X 6000 acres (72,000 acres) to obtain enough land to collect the same amout of energy that the additional North Anna reactor could provided
Even the Federal Energy dept only recommends solar farms in deserts. Virginia (my birthplace) is NOT a desert. And 100 megawatts of unreliable power is practically insignificant – its likely only effect will be to disrupt the local power grid.
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.
They pave paradise, put up a solar farm.
The proper response to these crazy power schemes is to point out just how idiotic they are
when compared to alternatives low or no carbon generation technologies. In the first place, the technologies are primitive 16th century technologies and secondly, they have an enormous enviromental footprint. The future of power generation is molten salt nuclear power, of that there is no doubt -just ask the Chinese, Indians, Russians, Bill Gates, the Canadians, etc. The costs of molten salt nuclear power will be far less than that of solar or wind and its environmental footprint is tiny.
If this deal goes through, I bet the land owners will make a killing. Sell off the wood for lumber and pulp wood (for wood pellet and paper mfg), then sell the land at market rates. Trust me, country folks aren’t dumb.
Is there some compelling reason to do this? Other than crony capitalism that is. 6350 acres gone, permanently, is not trivial. I thought we valued open space; for wildlife, for children. Evidently not. I guess Virginia’s not big on kids.
They’re Pro-Choice/selective-child.
The 6530 acres are still there; just the trees are gone (turned into usable lumber, paper and wood pellets). No one used that land except for hunters a few months of the year.
Does anyone have the report address for the Audubon society? Need to bring icisil to their attention as a hater of wildlife.
I guess you forgot /sarc
Country folk love wildlife. Marinated, smoked, whatever.
This is crony socialism, not capitalism.
The Green Blight.
“This isn’t a problem at all” said the SJW happily, “I can’t see it from my city”
This is going to be ironic… An area with huge energy reserves having brownouts due to clouds in the winter.
Just how many trees have been cut down, adding just how much CO2 back into the atmosphere. Cutting trees down to make room for solar panels; as John Adams says on ‘Last Man Standing’. “NOT COOL”!
I guess the lumber yield was an extra bonus cash, completely unexpected.
Not unexpected at all. Acreage to country folk is like a pension to city folk. In rural areas it’s common practice to invest in land as an investment to harvest the lumber (the recent wood pellet industry that utilizes junk trees has just added to the benefit), and then either sell the land, or hold on to it for the next iteration.
The financing details on this seem hard to come by. Are any government subsidies involved? Who has agreed to buy the electricity?
Here in the West, the “green” people oppose clear cutting forests yet look favorably on this issue. Hypocrisy.