It’s unknown the next steps for Rock Bluff Energy Park, a project whose reps have been here for two years but haven’t filed official paperwork to start the building process
The Henderson-Henderson County Joint Planning Commission voted Tuesday to send a recommendation of approval to the Henderson County Fiscal Court for its plan to impose a 2-year moratorium on any new solar energy development in the county.
The moratorium, proposed as a text amendment to the county’s current solar energy systems zoning ordinance, aims to stop the “filing, processing, review and acceptance by the Henderson Fiscal Court; the Henderson City-County Planning Commission; the Henderson County Board of Zoning Adjustment; or any other department subdivision, agency, board or commission of Henderson County government of any and all applications for rezoning, conditional use permits, or other types of applications for Level 2 Solar Energy System installations.”
And, according to the amendment, it would be in effect until Feb. 1, 2027.
In November, the Fiscal Court approved a resolution for the moratorium. The court’s next steps will be to approve the text amendment being added to the solar energy systems zoning ordinance.
The moratorium won’t have any effect on the two large solar installations that are currently being constructed in southern Henderson County near Robards because those two projects were already underway before the Fiscal Court passed its resolution.
National Grid Renewables is developing its 1,500-acre Unbridled Solar Project immediately south of Robards. It will include 400,000 solar panels, according to the company. NextEra Energy Resource’s two-phase Sebree Solar project will encompass 2,100 acres just to the north and west of Robards.
Another project, Rock Bluff Energy Park, which would include solar panels and possibly wind turbines, has been in the works for two years, according to representatives involved.
Kyle Gerking, a vice president of engineering for Tenaska, which is working in coordination with Cordelio, said at Tuesday’s planning commission meeting that about 14,000 acres of former strip-mining land owned by Penn Virginia in eastern Henderson County are under contract to develop Rock Bluff.
But according to county and planning officials, representatives from Rock Bluff have not yet filed any paperwork for the project. And because governmental bodies are aware of the project only through conversation and not official filings, then the planning commission and county government, in effect, have no connection to the project yet.
“We can’t (give) permit(s) (to) hypotheticals,” Planning Commission Executive Director Brian Bishop told the Hendersonian.
What’s unknown are the next steps of Rock Bluff representatives, or if there will be any. After Tuesday night’s meeting, Gerking and Tim Vought, the vice president of development of Cordelio Power, didn’t discuss the project’s future.
In a prepared statement sent to the Hendersonian later, Vought said, “We understand the concerns of the county and hope to continue to work collaboratively and with transparency as we move the Rock Bluff project forward.”
Schneider said in past meetings that the purpose of the moratorium was to monitor the effects of the current solar farms on the area, including drainage, road glare and the effectiveness of vegetative buffers (trees) that will take time to grow.
Gerking at the meeting asked that the planning commission recommend an exemption, saying that former strip-mining land—Rock Bluff has no farmable land under contract—is considered by state regulators as an accepted use for the land.
Additionally, he said because there are few residents and few county roads in the area, the drainage and glare concerns connected to the solar projects under construction near Robards wouldn’t be a problem at the proposed site in the eastern part of the county.
Planning Commissioner Bobbie Jarrett moved to recommend approval of the moratorium without any exemptions. All commissioners voted in favor except Gray Hodge, who voted “no,” and Heather Toews, who abstained.
It appears the moratorium will be approved by the Fiscal Court in the coming weeks. All members voted in approval of the resolution in November.
In the meantime, planning for Rock Bluff could continue outside the realm of the local government, including obtaining permits from the state Public Service Commission and the Midcontinental Independent System Operator, the electric grid operator for the central United States, Bishop said.
