Solar roundtable provokes more questions than answers

Feb 23 - McClatchy-Tribune Content Agency, LLC - Sylvia Carignan The Frederick News-Post, Md.

The 16 speakers who attended a roundtable discussion about solar energy in Frederick County on Monday evening found they had more questions than answers about the way new arrays should be approved.

"This is something that none of us is an expert in," Frederick County Councilwoman M.C. Keegan-Ayer said.

Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner called the roundtable together to determine how the county should handle proposals for large solar arrays. Officials met Monday evening at Winchester Hall in a conference room packed with local residents as well as business representatives.

The speakers at the table included two SolarCity representatives; John Fieseler, executive director of the Tourism Council of Frederick County; Denny Remsburg, of the Catoctin Soil Conservation District; and John Greenwell, chairman of the county's Board of Zoning Appeals.

Greenwell, who has had to consider the impact of solar arrays as a member of the Board of Zoning Appeals, said he would like more guidance from the county.

"I would be thrilled to death if we could be more prescriptive and I have to do less interpretation as to what the county wants to do," he said.

Liz Shatto, executive director of the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area, said her organization also reviews many of the solar array proposals that come before the county's planners. She said she was "delighted" that the county was holding the roundtable discussion about solar arrays.

"We knew that we wanted some more guidance," she said.

In a wide-ranging conversation, the roundtable speakers discussed large, small and residential arrays; Mount St. Mary's University's array; property values; industrial and agricultural properties; preserving land; viewsheds of rural land; community solar projects and the obsolescence of solar panels, among other topics.

Residents living near the proposed arrays were concerned about the aesthetic impact the solar panels might have on their views.

Some were also concerned about the placement of the panels. They suggested putting panels atop parking lots, on towers, on contaminated land or on previously developed land to save valuable farmland.

Gardner said she would use the information she collected Monday evening to work with county staff to draft recommendations for solar array policies.

Her ban on applications for new solar arrays is effective until July 15. Gardner enacted the ban by executive order in January to enable the county to step back and reconsider how to grant appropriate placement for large solar arrays.

The ban does not affect solar arrays installed on homes or built within a municipality's borders.

But Gardner made three solar array applications exempt from the ban, and one was approved by the Board of Zoning Appeals last month.

The approved application proposes a 20-megawatt solar farm on Clyde Young Road near New Midway. If constructed as presented, the solar array would be the largest in the county.

http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=38848415