Nelson County approves Wild Rose solar project with 40-year limit and $230,000 annual voluntary payments

The Nelson County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 14 approved a special use permit for the Wild Rose utility-scale solar project and accepted a revised solar siting agreement that includes annual voluntary payments and a recurring scholarship for southern-district students.

The board approved the special use permit for a 90-megawatt solar facility that would place panels on about 470 acres of the applicant’s roughly 46,100-acre parcel and run for a 40-year operating life. The board attached language limiting the permit to the 40th anniversary of commercial operation, after which the permit expires unless the board votes to extend it.

The approval followed an extended public comment period in which residents testified both for and against the project. Supporters said the facility would reduce carbon emissions and supply needed power; some said the company’s payments and local rooftop-solar offers were helpful. Opponents raised concerns about erosion and stormwater control, the visual impact, the adequacy of local enforcement of special-use permits, potential litigation costs, and whether the project’s power would flow to nearby data centers rather than local users.

In accepting the revised siting agreement, county staff summarized changes to the payment schedule (Exhibit B of the agreement) that added a voluntary operational payment of $230,000 per year for 40 years (shown in the agreement as column E), which the…