Should an 800-area solar farm be built in eastern Fayette County? Some aren’t so sure

A Nashville company wants to put a solar energy farm on 800 acres in eastern Fayette County.

Silicon Ranch, which runs and operates solar farms in 15 states, has an option to purchase 797 acres in the Haley Road area adjacent to a 384-acre solar project recently proposed by Eastern Kentucky Power Cooperative.

That means a little less than 1,200 acres of farm land in Fayette County could be used for solar energy production in coming years.

That likely won’t happen any time soon.

There are no rules saying where solar can go in Fayette County’s zoning ordinances.

Silicon Ranch has proposed a zoning text amendment, a change to the zoning rules, that would allow solar energy farms in some areas with a conditional use permit, including the agricultural zone. The land Silicon Ranch wants to purchase for the solar farm is currently zoned agricultural.

In addition, the zone text amendment also says what types of solar operations can go in what types of zones.

In addition to putting the solar arrays on the property, the group also wants to add sheep to the land to keep it agricultural, according to documents submitted to Lexington planning officials.

On May 2, a subcommittee of the Urban County Planning Commission postponed the approval of the text amendment at the recommendation of city planning staff.

City officials said the city needed more time to analyze best practices, other cities and counties rules regarding solar energy and to do more outreach.

City officials said it will likely be at least two months before the amendment returns to the planning commission for discussion.

If the Urban County Planning Commission gives its approval for the text amendment, it will then go to the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council for final approval.

Without the change to the zoning text, Silicon Ranch can’t move forward with its proposal.

Eastern Kentucky Power Cooperative does not need to get sign-offs from city planning boards because it is a public utility.

But the cooperative must get approval from the Public Service Commission, which oversees public utilities.

If Silicon Ranch eventually gets planning approval, it still has to get the green light from a commission Electric Generation and Transmission Siting Board that determines where large-scale solar operations can go among other issues.

Other counties and cities across Kentucky have also wrestled with how to regulate solar farms as more have come online in recent years.

In Clark County, two proposed zoning text amendments allowing solar farms in agricultural areas were voted down after push back from the community in 2021.

In June 2023, the Clark County Fiscal Court took the unusual step of passing an ordinance with the intent “to prevent utility-scale solar development within the agricultural zone in order to preserve farmland, protect historic resources and ensure that development is compatible with neighboring properties.”

Sheep and solar

Darby Turner, a lawyer who represents Silicon Ranch, said the proposed solar farm would generate about 80 to 100 megawatts of energy.

“That’s roughly 2.65% of the energy generated in Fayette County,” Turner said during the May 2 meeting.

There isn’t enough industrial land in Fayette County or most places to generate the amount of solar electricity needed, Turner said.

The city’s Comprehensive Plan, which guides development, calls for carbon neutrality by 2050. To do that, there needs to be large, solar arrays or fields, Turner argued.

But it’s impossible to find 800 acres of industrial zoned land in Fayette County, he said.

Sheep and solar are compatible, Silicon Ranch has found at its operations across the country, Turner said.

“Silicon Ranch may be one of the largest sheep producers in the country,” Turner said.

In some operations, Silicon Ranch lease the sheep to graze on the land. In other areas, Silicon Ranch owns the sheep and employs shepherds, he said.

Turner said the solar panels can be moved or decommissioned so the land can return to agricultural uses.

The proposed text amendment requires a decommission plan. It also requires the solar farm operator post a bond so if the solar company goes belly up, the solar panels can still be decommissioned. The amount of that bond is determined by a third-party engineer, not the company.

The proposed text amendment offers no guidelines or rules determining what is considered agriculture. That means that someone could put a chicken coop in one corner of a 100-acre solar farm and say it is still an agricultural use, Zach Davis, a planning commission member, said during the May 2 hearing.

Lawsuits over flooding

Brittany Roethemeier, executive director of the Fayette Alliance, which advocates on behalf of rural land owners, said there needs to be careful deliberation before the zoning text amendment moves forward.

Other cities and states have made mistakes after authorizing solar farms, she said. Fayette County has the opportunity to employ best practices before moving forward.

“The quality of the top soil makes the land here so special,” Roethemeier said. It can take hundreds of years to replace that topsoil if it’s damaged.

Roethemeier said the Fayette Alliance supports solar energy but questions if it should be placed on agricultural land.

There have been issues in other parts of the country with flooding of adjoining properties after a solar farm is installed.

Silicon Ranch was sued and ordered to pay millions of dollars to Georgia landowners who alleged the Lumpkin Solar Farm in caused damages to a 21-acre fishing lake due to poor erosion control when the solar farm was constructed.

In April 2023, a federal jury awarded Shaun Harris and Amie Harris of Stewart, Georgia, $135 million -- $25 million in punitive damages against Silicon Ranch and the remaining damages against the contractor and a subsidiary of the contractor. A federal judge later reduced those damages to $5 million in November 2023.

In a statement released after the April 2023 verdict, Silicon Ranch said it relied on its contractors to follow all local and state rules.

“We relied on our contractor to carry out this scope of work in compliance with applicable law and in keeping with industry best management practices, as specified by the appropriate regulatory bodies in the state of Georgia,” the statement said.

“As the long-term owner of this facility, Silicon Ranch remains committed to the continued success of Stewart County and the surrounding region. While we sincerely regret the unintentional damage to our neighbor’s property, Silicon Ranch does not believe the verdict in this trial is supported by the facts in this case.”