Dickenson County adopts solar ordinance, sets framework for large projects

The Dickenson County Board of Supervisors voted to adopt a solar ordinance intended to govern taxation and project requirements for large-scale solar in the county.

County staff introduced the ordinance at a public hearing, saying the county had no current solar ordinance and that the draft broadly follows Virginia law on maximum revenue per megawatt and requires a project-specific revenue-sharing ("siding") agreement to address revenue distribution, operations and decommissioning. Staff said residential rooftop systems would still be subject to standard building permits and would generally be exempt from the ordinance’s large-project requirements.

In public comment and during board discussion, residents asked whether residential installations were affected and questioned minimum thresholds and panel lifespan. County staff replied that residential rooftop systems would not be constrained by the large-project provisions and pointed to megawatt thresholds in the ordinance that exempt smaller systems. The draft asks that any large project submit an interconnection request and a detailed site agreement before board approval.

The board adopted the ordinance by voice vote after the hearing and later recorded the final adoption during the meeting.

The ordinance creates a two-step process for large solar projects: (1) a board-reviewed site agreement that specifies revenue-sharing and decommissioning obligations; and (2) project-level negotiation of terms that must comply with the ordinance and applicable Virginia code. The county did not record a numerical roll-call vote in the transcript; adoption was announced as carried by voice vote.

The county’s next procedural step will be to administer the ordinance when individual projects submit applications and the board reviews site agreements.

Meeting evidence: staff presentation at the public hearing and the final adoption vote were recorded in the board's meeting transcript.