LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — Solar farms exist as a controversial topic here in Lynchburg, and across many rural small towns in Tennessee.

On one side sits the solar energy industry which posits that the large, open spaces required for the solar panel arrays are only located in rural communities – usually in the form of former agricultural land and family farms. One the other side sits rural property owners who question the potential environmental impacts, and feel concerned over large swaths of agricultural land disappearing.

During their February meeting, the Metro Council voted unanimously to place a five-year moratorium on future solar farms projects in Moore County until all the potential trickle-down effects from the yet-to-be-built Silicon Ranch Solar Farm located along Highway 55 between Motlow College and the Tullahoma City Limits can be studied. {To read our complete coverage of that vote, click here.}

“This is large, very large. We want to see what kind of impact it has and study that so that we know what type of restrictions or requirements to place on future project,” Metro Attorney Bill Reider stated during the February meeting. “This is to get your feet on the ground, and study what will happen. That’s all this is. It does not impact the one that has already been approved.”

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Planning Commission recommends five acre limit

Missing from the first draft of Solar Farm Moratorium; however, was an acreage limit.

During the March 4 Metro Planning Commission meeting, Chairman Dexter Golden, who also sits on the Metro Council, looked to his fellow Planning Commission members for a suggestion on the number of acres to exclude from the moratorium in the case that a local homeowner or farmer wanted to place solar panels on their property for personal use.

“I don’t think we want to place a moratorium on everything,” Golden stated at that meeting. “For example, what if someone in the county owned a 100 acre farm, and wanted to place panels on it? We just need get that maximum acreage for personal use. We need to legally set that number.”

That’s when fellow Planning Commission member Scott Fruehauf suggested a five-acre limit.

“Is five acres not more than enough to do anything non-commercial with?” Fruehauf asked the group. “You can build a house on a quarter acre. You can build a chicken barn on an acre and a half.”

“Its the hundreds of acres projects that we don’t want,” add Metro Planning Commission and Metro Council member Jimmy Hammond. “You can power a whole bunch of electric cars with five acres.”

After a brief discussion, all seven Metro Planning Commission members – Chair Golden, Jim Crawford, Robert Carroll, Angelica Lightfoot, Jeff Ross, Hammond, and Fruehauf – voted unanimously to send the five acre maximum to the Metro Council for approval.

Bracewell, Hammond narrow to .25 acres

On Monday, Golden presented his recommendation to the Metro Council, and they decided to narrow it even further to a quarter acre or 10,890 square feet. The change would only affect personal, ground-mounted solar projects.

During open discussion, council member Robert Bracewell suggested lowering that maximum to one acre.

“The reason behind that is that the amount of power generation for one acres of solar is anywhere between 400 and 500 kilowatts, which is enough to run 38 to 150 homes,” Bracewell explained.

Then fellow council member Jimmy Hammond asked if one quarter acre would be a enough for personal solar projects based on Bracewell’s research.

“Yes. That would be more than enough,” Bracewell replied.

With that, Bracewell made the motion to limit personal solar projects to .25 acres. Greg Guinn seconded the motion. Then Peggy Sue Blackburn made the motion to approve the amended solar farm ordinance. Hammond seconded her motion. It passed unanimously.

The Silicon Ranch Solar Farm is still in the building and planning phase. At the February Metro Planning meeting, Silicon’s Rob Riley appeared before the Commission to give a status report. He stated that local construction crews would begin on electrical substation in late February or early March. He also stated that they are currently clearing timber debris to make room for the 200-megawatt capacity solar array.

The Metro Planning Commission meets on the first Tuesday of each month in the County Building at 5:30 p.m. The Metro Council meets every third Monday of the month at the American Legion Building at 6:30 p.m. •

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