Solar farm receives Sussex council approval
A conditional-use application to pave the way for the largest solar project in Sussex County received approval from Sussex County Council, with one change. On the recommendation of Councilwoman Joan Deaver, D-Rehoboth Beach, and Councilman George Cole, R-Ocean View, a landscaping plan was added to six conditions placed on the Delaware Electric Cooperative Inc. project by county planning and zoning commissioners.
“It is not a residential look; I'm concerned for folks who live near there,” Deaver said. County attorney J. Everett Moore said it was within council's purview to require landscaping to screen the solar farm from nearby houses.
The final site plan for the solar farm must be approved by the planning and zoning commission before any work can commence on the project.
Like all other Delaware utilities, by 2025, Delaware Electric Cooperative must acquire 25 percent of its overall energy demand from renewable sources. In a move toward compliance with state law, the Greenwood-based cooperative will construct a 40-acre, 7-megawatt solar energy farm about one mile south of Georgetown off East Trap Pond Road. Planning and zoning recommended approval of the project at its Aug. 9 meeting.
When the two-phase project is completed, the solar farm will generate enough electricity to power 870 homes, said co-op attorney Terry Jaywork during an Aug. 21 council hearing
In Phase 1, to be completed within the next four to six months, 16,000 solar panels will be constructed on 20 acres, followed within five years by Phase 2, with another 12,000 panels on the remaining 20 acres. The 28,000-panel site would make it the largest solar farm in Sussex County.
According to the co-ops's 2011 annual report, the project is expected to cost about $14 million with no expected effect on rates.
The panels are 6-feet, 4-inches tall and would be mounted on concrete slabs, which is typical installation for solar panels. Motech Americas LLC in Newark has been contracted to build the panels.
The visual impact of the project would be minimal, said Mark Nielson, co-op vice president of staff services. In answer to concerns expressed by residents during public hearings, Nielson said the solar panels would be located 200 feet from the road, and the closest residence is more than 600 feet – equivalent to more than two football fields – away. He said the parcel is surrounded by farm fields on three sides and a wooded parcel on the east side.
The solar farm would also contain a series of seven, 4-foot-high-by-4-foot-wide transformer inverters to convert solar DC current to AC electricity, Nielson said. “You will not hear any noise from the transformers,” he said.
The solar farm would be located in a 160-acre parcel owned by Heritage Lands LLC.
Among the conditions placed on the project are the following: the parcel must be returned to its original state if the solar farm stops operating for 12 months; the project has to be fenced in and gated; and only downward-facing, perimeter lighting will be permitted.
