Company outlines two 5-MW community solar projects near Oak Grove Baptist Church

Quentin Wood, a New Leaf Energy representative, told the Russell County Board of Supervisors on Feb. 3 that his company is proposing two community-scale solar projects along River Mountain Road that would each be limited to about 5 megawatts and sited more than 1,000 feet from the road.

The projects, described as 4072 River Mountain Road and a nearby site with a 911 address off River Mountain Road, would place roughly 8 acres of photovoltaic panels inside a fenced 26-acre parcel at one site and about 8 acres of panels on a 24-acre parcel at the other. "These are community solar projects — 5 megawatts and below," Wood said, and he said customers who subscribe through the state’s shared-solar program for Appalachian Power Company (APCO) could save "anywhere from 10 to 15%" on APCO bills.

Wood said New Leaf is pursuing the Virginia shared-solar program and expects each site to connect to three-phase distribution lines along River Mountain Road. He told the board the sites were sited to use topography and existing vegetation for visual screening and that federal- and state-level environmental reviews found no impacts to threatened or endangered species or direct impacts to wetlands within the fenced solar areas. "We don't have any impacts to any threatened or endangered species," Wood said.

The company said it received roughly 33 mailers to nearby residents and held a community meeting Jan. 22 with nine attendees. Wood said attendees raised questions but "didn't really have any type of true negative feedback regarding the design or the layout." Jesse Robinson, who was not at the meeting, provided an estimate that the combined projects could generate about $1,000,000 in additional tax revenue to the county over the life of the projects, Wood said.

Supervisors asked about timeline, equipment warranties, interconnection costs and decommissioning. Wood said typical lease terms start with a 20-year lease and often include extensions in five-year increments up to 35 or 40 years; manufacturers’ warranties commonly run 20 to 25 years and panels are expected to operate at roughly 80–85% capacity after several decades. On decommissioning, Wood said the company’s lease and permit agreements include bonding to cover removal costs and that buyers/operators would be responsible for meeting the county's decommissioning requirements. "The decommissioning bond with the county would be obtained prior to getting building permits," he said.

On interconnection, Wood said APCO will supply a study showing whether upgrades are needed and any required upgrades to the distribution circuit would be included in the project's interconnection costs. He said New Leaf typically prefers sites with existing three-phase service to limit upgrade expenses.

Wood estimated the projects would create temporary construction jobs and a small number of long-term operation and maintenance positions and said site work aims to limit topsoil stripping and avoid large-scale disturbance. He described typical foundations as driven posts (similar to guardrail posts) and said vegetation and stormwater plans would be included in environmental documents.

Board members asked Wood to provide the slide deck and more detailed tax-estimate work done by Jesse Robinson; Wood agreed to forward that information to the county administrator and to follow up with APCO-specific subscription and billing details.

The board did not vote on or approve the projects at the Feb. 3 meeting. County counsel requested an executive session later in the agenda to discuss a revised siting agreement from another developer (CEP Solar) and said counsel would take up related legal matters in closed session; Wood noted New Leaf is represented by the same law firm as CEP. The board moved into executive session later in the meeting to discuss solar agreement negotiations.