As solar farms expand in the region, some municipalities are considering introducing regulations

Ella Lenhart has a bird’s eye view of what may be the largest solar farm in Westmoreland County: hundreds of panels spread across a contained 134-acre plot of land in Cook Parish.

Lenhart does not find this sight pleasant.

“I had a really nice view until this happened,” Lenhart said, shaking her head toward a field of panels on the land that New York-based AL-Spring Lane LLC bought from Raymond Hess for $2.8 million in July 2023.

The real estate transaction included a 134-acre site and an adjacent 76-acre parcel.

Lenhart said she was not aware of the plans by solar developer MN8 Energy LLC, which shares the same New York address as AL-Spring Lane, until work began in October.

Cook Parish has no zoning, and the entire permitting process was handled by the state Department of Environmental Protection, said Cook Parish Supervisor Jerry Lenhart.

The rise of solar farms as a source of clean energy has prompted more municipalities across the state to consider enacting ordinances to regulate such facilities, said David Sanko, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Township Supervisors.

The Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Code allows for zoning or land-use ordinances that regulate solar panel installations. Some municipalities in Westmoreland County are adopting an ordinance to implement certain controls on the placement, construction, operation and maintenance of solar panel sites, as well as the retirement of solar panels when they no longer produce energy.

“You have to have some checks and balances on where it fits and where it doesn’t,” said Sanko, whose organization has developed model ordinances to regulate solar energy facilities.

South Huntingdon and Fairfield have adopted ordinances that set criteria for solar farms, and Loyalhanna Parish supervisors will consider adopting the same ordinance Tuesday, said Daniel Hewitt, a Greensburg attorney who developed the ordinance from several sources. Mt. Pleasant and Donegal, where he also serves as attorney, are also considering adopting an ordinance, Hewitt said.

City officials want to put some controls in place, Hewitt said, but they don’t want to impose restrictions on homeowners who install solar panels on their roofs to generate power for their own use.

A developer wishing to develop a commercial solar power plant must detail the approximate generating capacity of the project and provide a description of the types and sizes of panels. The site plan must also indicate that the facility is set back from the property line by at least 200 feet if it generates less than five megawatts and 500 feet if it generates more than five megawatts.

The Model Regulation requires visual inspections to be carried out around solar farms, which has not yet been carried out in the case of the MN8 Energy solar panel farm.

MN8 Energy was not available for comment on Monday.

Another township with rural land that could be ripe for solar farms is Sewickley Township. Mark Petros, chairman of the township’s board, said he is not aware of any local controls on solar farm development.

Plans make sense

Sharon Pillar, executive director of the Pittsburgh-based Pennsylvania Solar Center, said the ordinance establishing criteria for large solar installations is a win-win for both the solar developer and the municipality where the facility is to be built.

“It’s a good idea to have a plan … that really addresses the issues. (Solar) developers want to understand” what they need to do to meet municipal requirements, Pillar said.

The Pennsylvania Solar Center is working with Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services of Pittsburgh to develop a model ordinance for large solar power plants, Pillar said.

The model ordinance, which will soon be published in the guide, will include recommendations for what municipalities could adopt as rules to regulate solar facilities, said Michael Parker, an attorney and executive director of Fair Shake Environmental. It will include general provisions for what municipalities could adopt, Parker said.

Parker said municipalities should be prepared to address the issue of building a solar plant. He added that he was not aware of an ordinance being considered by some Westmoreland municipalities.

The issue of an existing ordinance governing solar farms came up last week during a hearing before the Unity Township Zoning Commission on a planned project on a 34-acre parcel along Charles Houck Road near Arnold Palmer Regional Airport.

Unity Supervisor Mike O’Barto, chairman of the three-member board, told the crowd that packed the conference room for a hearing on the proposed solar farm that “after doing my research, I think the (Unity) ordinance is very vague.”

Still, O’Barto said, “it was the best we had” when the borough passed the ordinance.

“We need to update that, especially with the solar (electricity) farms coming to our town. This is probably just the first proposal” for a solar farm, O’Barto said.

Unity can control the development of large solar farms because of an existing borough ordinance that allows development only in agricultural and environmental protection zones, said Harry Hosack, the borough’s zoning officer.

The Unity Ordinance contains setback requirements similar to those contained in the model ordinance developed by Hewitt.

Cost of retirement from service

O’Barto raised the issue of the status of solar farms once they stop producing energy.

“I don’t know what will happen in 20 or 30 years,” O’Barto said.

The bill presented to some municipalities stipulates that the owner cannot obtain a permit without paying a deposit covering at least 110% of the total decommissioning costs of the solar plant and providing the municipality with an estimated cost, including salvage or resale value.

“We don’t want to see what happened with the abandoned gas wells of the 1940s,” Hewitt said, referring to the proliferation of abandoned natural gas wells in the state and the environmental problems they create.

Sanko said there is a real concern about what happens if the solar company that builds the solar panel farm is out of business 20 years later and the panels start to lose their lifespan.

“We do not want taxpayers to bear the financial burden” of decommissioning and disposing of old solar panels and related infrastructure, Sanko said.