There may be a lot of questions about why these proposals are happening now and how they fit in with the purpose of the Ag Reserve.
Let's talk about it.
Community Solar is allowed in the Ag Reserve - with conditions - ZTA 21-01 was the result of lengthily deliberations that balanced the need to ramp up clean energy generation and keep farms thriving in the Reserve. ZTA 21-01 allowed community solar to be built in the Reserve on up to 1800 total acres of sub-prime soils with no property hosting more than 2 MW of arrays, along with protections for forests, streams, and slopes.
So far - two arrays have been approved through this conditional use process in the Reserve. A bottleneck at the interconnection stage has prevented more projects. As this bottleneck is clearing, we will likely see more projects proposed.
Some developers are working within the County's carefully devised conditional use process, some are not.
By the Book
The recent community solar array proposed on Barnesville Road
(as pictured above) though still in the pre-application process, looks to be meeting County policies for solar in the Reserve - notably by only building on non-prime soils, cutting no trees and keeping the project under the 2 Mega Watt cap.
An End Run at the State
Contrast this array seeming to follow county policies with two proposed arrays of 4 and 5 Megawatts each on prime soils proposed in Poolesville and Dickerson in conflict with the compromise ZTA. This solar developer, Chaberton Energy, is going to the Public Service Commission at the state level to gain approval. MCA has filed as an intervenor in the proceedings to represent the Reserve and our county master plan.
What is Coming from Annapolis
We understand that the new session in Annapolis (starting in January) will bring a bill that would override most local control on solar siting across the whole state. In the map below, preferred corridors would be within 2 miles of a high gage transmission line. No protections for prime farm soils will be considered. Instead, projects in areas deemed to be important for agriculture will have to pay the local government into a fund to preserve agriculture- a startling misunderstanding - farmland is a finite resource. (A deep dive on how the bill will probably look here)