Hinds County Approves Raymond Solar Farm

On Monday morning outside the Hinds County Clerk’s Courthouse, Raymond residents opposed to the solar farm construction walked on the sidewalk with signs reading “Say No to Big Solar.” Inside the building, the Board of Supervisors voted to approve the project.

Several dozen residents opposed to the solar farm made their way to the boardroom, most of them wearing green T-shirts that read, “Not in my backyard #NIMBY.” Many of the same faces at Monday’s meeting also showed up at last month’s Hinds County Planning Commission meeting, where the commission voted not to recommend the “Soul City Solar” project to the Board of Supervisors.

The vote was 3 to 2 in favor of Soul City. Supervisors Robert Graham, Tony Smith and Wanda Evers, whose districts the project will take place, voted in favor of the proposal, while Supervisors Deborah Butler-Dixon and Bobby “Bobcat” McGowan voted against it.

The company behind the project, Virginia-based Apex Clean Energy, said it plans to start construction next year, with the panels to be operational by 2027. As of 2021, the company is working with private landowners between Raymond and Bolton to reach an agreement lease agreements to place solar panels that will cover nearly 6,000 acres. The company says Soul City will produce 396 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 95,000 homes. This energy production would make Soul City the largest solar development in Mississippi.

Apex also says the project will generate approximately $150 million in county tax revenue over the facility’s initial 30 years of operation, in addition to 10 full-time jobs and 400 construction workers. Last November, the Hinds County Board of Supervisors voted for an ad valorem tax agreement for the project. Brian O’Shea, Apex’s director of Public Engagement, said the deal would save the company money in the long run, but did not provide an exact percentage. (Hinds County officials were not available Monday to provide terms of the deal.)

Paulette Robinson, who said her home is adjacent to where the new panels will be placed, told the Board of Supervisors at Monday’s meeting that she and other neighbors of the project area only learned about the proposal last month, when Apex held a local meeting public.

“I understand the need for these (tax) dollars in Hinds County,” Robinson said. “I also understand that solar energy is the energy of the future. But not at the expense of the residents who make up the district.”

Robinson and others, including Mayor Raymond Isla Tullos, asked the board to delay approval to allow time to establish clearer rules and guidelines for solar developers.

“Your ‘no’ vote would be to place a one-year moratorium (on the project),” Tullos said. “During this one-year period, you will lead our state in developing best practice guidelines for solar energy development.”

At both Monday’s meeting and last month’s Planning Commission meeting, the vast majority of Raymond residents present were opposed to the solar farm. Opponents of the project claim that there is a petition circulating with over 1,100 signatures (the online version of the petition contains nearly 800 signatures).

Their concerns are not limited to the short notice they received about the proposal: Many Raymond residents discussed the possibility of toxic chemicals leaching from the solar panels, as well as concerns about increased heat near the facility and its impact on the environment. local nature.

But experts, including those at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the North Carolina Center for Clean Energy Technology, have largely condemned theories that solar panels have any harmful effects on humans.

“It is not known whether photovoltaic (PV) technologies and solar inverters pose any significant health risks to neighbors,” said a 2017 North Carolina article. “The most important risks are increased highway traffic during the relatively short construction period and the dangers to which intruders are exposed through contact with high-voltage equipment.”

While a 2016 study supports the belief that solar panels increase nearby temperatures, an article about the study states that this effect cannot be measured within 30 meters of a power source. Apex’s O’Shea said Soul City would be set back at least 300 feet from adjacent occupied properties.

At last month’s Planning Commission meeting, Apex officials said Soul City would create a “nature corridor” that would allow wildlife to roam freely within the project area. Local opponents remained skeptical, however, arguing that the installments could disturb the habitat of nearby species such as deer, black bears and birds.

Another 2016 study estimated that utility-scale solar farms kill tens of thousands of birds annually across the country. But the Audubon Society says Soul City’s solar panels pose no such risk and that the long-term benefits of renewable energy outweigh any concerns for the birds.

Smith, who represents District 2, said his research did not support the concerns expressed by opponents and that he supports a measure that would lower energy costs.

“I pay a lot of money for energy, and if it’s something that can reduce energy costs, I don’t mind it,” he said.

Apex said it plans to sell the power it generates through the MISO power grid, which manages power transmission through a regional market.

Brent Bailey, former Central District Public Utilities Commissioner, spoke in favor of the project on Monday, saying it would increase access to clean and cost-effective energy as well as increase local revenues for school infrastructure.

“Nearly 40 large solar farms have been approved for construction and operation in Mississippi,” Bailey told the board, then joked about opponents’ green T-shirts. “These communities didn’t say, ‘Not in my backyard,’ they said, ‘Yes, in my backyard.'”

After the meeting, one of the people in green shirts approached Bailey, pointed and said, “You don’t live here. I do.”

McGowan, the District 5 supervisor who was one of two votes against the project, said the decision should determine whether Raymond residents want it or not.

“Why do we want to put something in someone’s area that they don’t want to be in their area?” he asked. – I do not understand this.

Allison Lauderdale, a Raymond resident and organizer of the opposition to Soul City, recently started a GoFundMe to raise money for legal funding to fight the project if it is approved. After the vote, Lauderdale told Mississippi Today she plans to file an injunction and has 10 days to do so.

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