Solar farms in Virginia muddied with erosion problems (2024)

MAX MEADOWS – More than 180,000 solar panels, aligned in rows that form a pinstripe pattern across a mountain meadow, will soon generate green energy.

But brown swaths of bare earth at the Wythe County Solar Project, currently under construction, show an environmental downside to the rapid growth of utility scale solar farms in Virginia.

Nearly 70% of the 77 solar developments overseen by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality last year had “significant noncompliance issues” with erosion control and storm water management, according to a review by the department.

About a third of the projects had pending violations or consent orders, DEQ said. The most recent order was proposed this summer against the Wythe County Solar Project, which agreed to pay a fine of $24,570 for failing to adequately control erosion and sedimentation.

As development of renewable energy sources escalates under the Virginia Clean Economy Act, a law passed in 2020 to address climate change, clearing and grading large sites for solar farms has created more muddy runoff than expected.

‘These are construction sites, pure and simple,” said Lee Daniels, a Virginia Tech professor of environmental soil science who has researched the issue. “And the industry as a whole, in my opinion, is still coming to grips with dealing with these large construction sites.”

“In rural areas of Virginia, the conversion of agricultural and forest land to solar is going to be the biggest land use change in the state,” Daniels said. “There is no other change out there that’s going to affect land use as much as this.”

Supporters of renewable energy worry that DEQ’s findings – which came from a one-time snapshot review in March 2023 – could fuel existing opposition to solar farms. In addition to raising concerns about erosion, some residents who live near the facilities have complained about ruined rural views and the loss of farmland in their communities.

“Unlike so many of the objections to solar projects, erosion is a valid concern when it results in sediment impairing wetlands or streams,” said Ivy Main, renewable energy co-chair of the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club.

“So it is really incumbent on developers to adhere to the rules,” Main said.

Problems with muddy runoff

The Wythe County Solar Project sits on a 589-acre parcel not far from where the New River passes under Interstate 77.

A total of 180,572 solar panels, each one about three-feet-by-six-feet, are being mounted on linear racks, according to a spokeswoman for the project’s developer, RWE Clean Energy.

The electricity they will produce – up to 75 megawatts, enough to power about 12,000 homes — will enter the grid at a nearby Appalachian Power Co. substation and be sold as part of a power purchase agreement with Dominion Energy.

Construction began last summer and is expected to be completed by the end of September.

Starting in November 2023, DEQ inspectors found that grading began in some areas before the installation of perimeter controls to limit erosion, such as silt fences and sediment basins. Other violations of state regulations included improper maintenance of sediment control measures and allowing graded areas to remained dormant for more than 14 days with no stabilization measures installed.

Conditions were bad enough for Wythe County to issue a stop work order in December. The order was lifted two months later, after construction workers took steps that included applying straw and seed to denuded areas and installing erosion control blankets on slopes.

RWE said in a statement that it is working closely with the county and DEQ.

“Being a good environmental steward is a priority for us and we are continuing to improve our project designs to mitigate environmental impacts,” the statement read. “Our construction team is onsite every day working diligently to ensure the project is built safely and in an environmentally responsible way.”

Many developers focus on perimeter controls, while failing to stabilize soil on the site itself, DEQ says. The sheer size of many solar farms can lead to erosion that easily overwhelms measures taken to stop it at the project’s edge. Magnitude also makes it harder to immediately identify trouble areas.

“A back of the envelope example may help illustrate this: A 6,000-acre square solar development has a perimeter of more than 12 miles,” DEQ spokeswoman Irina Calos wrote in an email. “One cannot see the entire development at once, and walking the perimeter would take hours.”

Another common problem is the failure to quickly plant grass and vegetation to limit erosion in areas that have been cleared and graded.

“We have worked to resolve the issues in accordance with DEQ’s requirements, investing millions of dollars to bring the projects into compliance, and we are working diligently to finalize everything,” said Benaya Cherlow, the company’s external relations manager.

Looking for solutions

When raindrops fall on a solar farm, they hit impervious photovoltaic panels that are positioned at an angle to best capture the sun’s rays.

“You have a little waterfall falling off the side of that panel,” said Jenya Meydbray, chief commercial officer of Nevados, a company that designs solar equipment. Sheets of water from thousands of panels hit the ground and converge into gullies, which worsens erosion.

To solve that problem, Meydbray’s company has developed a “rain stow” system that uses sensors to detect heavy rainfall and automatically moves the panels to a near vertical position, exposing more ground and grass to absorb water.

Although none of the solar farm developers in Virginia served by Nevados are currently using the system, “we have had conversations about it,” Meydbray said. He expects at least one taker.

Nevados designs solar tracking systems, which tilt the panels to follow the sun throughout the day. An all-terrain tracker with flexible joints allows the racks on which the panels are mounted to follow the contours of rolling hills – eliminating the need for grading and other soil disturbance.

“I think the number one way to avoid erosion is to avoid grading,” Meydbray said. “If the grass is there, you’re not disturbing the site, you’re just working in harmony with the natural environment.”

Installation of the system at the Bartonsville Solar project near Winchester allowed developers to avoid excavating more than 400,000 cubic yards of soil, enough to fill 123 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The Clean Economy Act requires Appalachian and Dominion to provide their state customers with all carbon-free power by mid-century. As part of an effort to deal with that, DEQ is funding research – which includes the work of Daniels and his colleagues at Virginia Tech – to develop best-management-practices to limit erosion from solar farms.

Two regulatory advisory panels have been convened to amend regulations. And in June, DEQ began enforcing new minimum standards that require developers to properly stabilize soil during construction.

Developers are committed to working with DEQ, said Robin Dutta, executive director of the Chesapeake Solar and Storage Association, the regional trade association for the solar and storage industries in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

“Solar deployment is an important but relatively young and growing industry in Virginia,” Dutta said. “Developers consistently strive to be responsible stewards.”

More solar farms on the way

While solar farms have been popping up like mushrooms in Southside and central Virginia, there is still no utility scale operation in the Roanoke or New River valleys.

Despite challenges – which include mountains that limit sunlight and the relative scarcity of available sites – several projects are in the works.

In Pulaski County, the board of supervisors approved a special use permit in 2021 for the use of about 2,700 acres of private farmland near the New River Valley Airport. Chicago-based Hecate Energy will develop and operate the solar farm.

Plans were delayed as Hecate awaited approval from PJM, the electric grid that serves Virginia. The goal now is to begin construction early next year, project spokesman Jay Poole said, with completion expected by no later than 2027.

“Bringing one of the state’s largest solar facilities on-line will highlight Pulaski County’s growing reputation as a regional and state leader in the generation of renewable energy,” Poole wrote in an email.

In Botetourt County, a facility is planned near Buchanan that would operate under the state’s shared solar program, which allows people who cannot install solar panels on their homes to purchase some of their electricity from a solar farm operated by a private company.

TotalEnergies Renewables USA has been approved to install 11,160 solar panels on about 17 acres of pasture. A company official said last June that the solar farm was expected to be operational in spring 2024, but construction has yet to begin.

Recent efforts to reach a TotalEnergies spokesperson were unsuccessful.

In Franklin County, two proposals by Energix have been scrapped after community opposition surfaced. The first was for a solar farm in Westlake. In June 2023, Energix withdrew its application for a special use permit for a 258-acre operation on farmland in Wirtz.

At the time, the company said it planned to submit new plans for the site. Asked last week for an update, company officials had not responded by 5 p.m. Friday.

DEQ said it does not have a total number of wind farms in Virginia. That’s because the agency does not regulate small operations that produce less than 5 megawatts, like a proposed wind farm on Bent Mountain in Roanoke County. Larger projects that generate more than 150 megawatts fall under the authority of the State Corporation Commission.

Regardless of the size or location, there’s a common expectation for wind farms.

“You should follow the rules, obviously,” said Main of the Sierra Club. “That seems like a pretty basic thing to ask of somebody.”