Catalyst Energy Partners hold town hall talks on potential Wolf Hills solar project | WJHL

BRISTOL, Va. (WJHL) – On Thursday at the St. John High School town hall. John S. Battle, Catalyst Energy Partners hosted a meeting where residents could ask questions about a proposed solar energy project that has raised some community concerns.

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Catalyst wants to place panels on 1,500 of the 2,200 acres on several agricultural plots on Wyndale Road in Abingdon in a project that could come online in late 2027 and produce 262 megawatts of electricity. A company official provided estimates showing Washington County has generated more than $23 million in revenue in the 35 years since the project was implemented, but News Channel 11 spoke with several citizens whose concerns remain.

Craig Schwer, director of renewable energy development at Catalyst Energy Partners, said 1,500 acres of active solar power generation will be fenced.

“Any area where there are panels, inverters or other items that are not accessible to the public, that could be entered accidentally or by wildlife, should be kept out,” Schwer said. “An additional 700 acres are dedicated to setbacks and access roads. There will be no panels on them.”

Schwer said he chose this particular area to take advantage of existing transmission infrastructure adjacent to the Wolf Hills Gas Plant, operated by regional transmission group PJM Interconnections.

“What we will do is generate energy; it reaches the grid, PJM will send it and there are four different routes it can go,” Schwer said. “There are four different transmission lines coming out of the gas plant and they are all owned by Appalachian Power. Where it goes depends specifically on the day and time of day when power is needed. It is up to PJM to send it. But we’ll put the power on the grid as soon as the sun comes out and let PJM figure out where it’s going.”

Experts set up tables in the town hall where they could answer public questions about the project. They answered questions about economic impact, workforce opportunities, impacts on farmland, and more.

Many people in the community who came to City Hall had concerns about the solar project.

Amy Venable, who lives on Rust Hollow Road near the proposed site, said she wished she and other neighbors had learned about the project sooner.

“To make an informed decision, we need to ask the other side to tell the public what the negative aspects of solar power will be,” Venable said. “Fires, runoff, you just look at it, plus the loss of farmland. This is important to this county, especially since the main industry is calf farming. So almost 2,000 acres will be removed from this system and placed under solar panels.”

Venable said she estimated a loss of more than 3,000 tonnes of beef going off the market. She said she’s not against solar power – she’s just against using it on active farmland.

“I would like them to consider more industrial solutions for solar panels or perhaps encourage people to install solar energy in their homes so they can power their own homes with solar panels,” Venable said. “I think they have to wait. Take a breath, because this is something very new.

Venable said a petition was started to prevent the project from going ahead. There is also a Facebook group that many community members have joined to follow the project.

Nathan Berg, co-owner of Wallberg Construction, has similar concerns.

“I am concerned that the very heavily government-subsidized solar industry will be paying a much higher rate per acre to lease these farmlands and that our local farmers will simply not be able to compete with these lease rates,” Berg said.

Berg is also concerned about solar panels hurting the outdoor recreation economy. He believes Washington County should place limits on the number of acres used for solar installations.

Many other community members are also concerned about the possibility of ownership of the panels changing in later years.

“We need a way to ensure that the promises made today are kept over these 30 years,” Berg said. “We also need to ensure that there are appropriate penalties if companies do not do what they have promised. For a multi-million dollar corporation, even a $100,000 fine really won’t make much of a difference to them.

Schwer addressed these concerns. The proposed zoning ordinance for solar projects would introduce additional protections and requirements for the use of solar energy.

“In some ways, it provides an additional protection that makes it very, very clear that the new owner will have to meet these obligations compared to other counties that have had negative experiences and didn’t have those protections,” Schwer said.

Paul Widener is a member of the Washington County, Virginia Planning Commission. Without the regulation, Catalyst could still file an application, he said.

“But without the regulation coming into force, many questions would remain unanswered,” Widener said. “There would be more variables that could potentially put the project at risk. “So the ordinance is important because it sets guidelines and parameters for how these types of projects can be implemented in the county.”

Widener said a special exception permit is required for such large-scale projects.

“The special permit process gives the county some latitude to impose restrictions and application elements to address specific needs that may not have been addressed in the ordinance process,” Widener said.

“It gives the county an opportunity to look at it, stop and say, yes, the ordinance did its job, but maybe there are other areas we need to consider to do the right thing.”

Schwer said Wolf Hills estimates Washington County revenues will increase by $23 million over the 35 years of the project. Most of that amount will come through a revenue sharing ordinance, with $3.5 million coming from property taxes.

“That’s property tax revenue that would come from solar products that would be used by the county to build a new school, fire trucks, a new fire station and so on.”

Schwer said if everything is approved and allowed, he hopes to begin construction in the fall or winter of 2025.

The estimated date of commissioning of the panels is the second half of 2027. More information can be found on the project website.

The board’s next meeting will be June 11 and the planning commission’s next meeting will be June 24, when it will be able to make a decision on Catalyst Energy’s application.