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the zoning rule capped( initially) the total acreage allowed for solar facilities in the Ag Reserve at 1,800 acres. That equates to about 2 % of agricultural land in Montgomery County.
“ Farmers in the Reserve have worked with strict zoning since 1980,” says Doug Lechlider, a fifth generation Ag
Reserve landowner and farmer and Montgomery County Farm Bureau leader.“ That zoning restricted competition for land to other farmers— and farming here has thrived. This legislation will now return portions of good farmland to commercial use. That’ s not good.”
Size, soils and how much is 5 % anyway?
It gets even a bit more complex— sorry. The new law retains limits on the size of solar facilities but it jettisons conditions on types of soils. Thus, Montgomery County’ s restriction on putting solar on land with the best soils will no longer apply in the Ag Reserve.
Solar projects larger than 2MW will now be vetted and approved by the PSC. Smaller
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“ The table was set for crafting and passage of this consequential legislation, with ample seats for solar( including CI Renewables, which employs the president of the Maryland Senate) and development interests, while agriculture begged to be heard outside the banquet room. That table, all our tables, will want for food if we fail to properly protect the land that sustains us.
“ Be clear, we and colleagues are all working to address climate change mitigation and adaptation— ramping up local food and fiber production, promoting conservation of water resources, protecting and increasing biodiverse habitat, advancing waste reduction, and supporting wise transportation solutions.
“ We are already seeing the effects of this sweeping giveaway of Maryland’ s prime farmland and forest to the solar industry here in Montgomery County with leasing and sales prices going through the roof. How can we sustain agriculture here if we continue to throw up insurmountable challenges such as the competition for affordable farm acres with the deeppocketed solar industry?”
- caroline taylor, executive director, montgomery countryside alliance
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Poolesville. The other is a 4MW project on 16 acres in Dickerson. If approved, both would be built on fields that have been farmed for years and are mostly comprised of high-quality soils. In addition, a third project recently proposed by another company is just outside of Barnesville, on
Ag Reserve land.
PPA areas comprise around 103,000 acres in Montgomery County, including the 93,000-acre Ag Reserve. Five percent of that would be 5,150 acres. Statewide, 5 % equates to around 120,000 acres of farmland now open to solar.
While 5 % may not sound unreasonable to some, farm and environmental groups throughout the state urged a
2 % cap instead. The main rationale was that previous state estimates indicated that over the next 5 to 10 years around 45,000 to 50,000 acres of ground-based solar would be sufficient to meet the state’ s renewable energy needs. That translates to 1 % to 2 % of PPA areas since solar can also be built on non-PPA land.
Even the legislation’ s
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projects— between 1 and 2MW— can continue to be reviewed primarily at the county level. Notably, however, a |
sponsors acknowledged during debate that the 5 % cap was not based on any detailed assessment of need. |
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county is now required to approve those smaller projects | |||
as long as they conform to the new state regs. In practice, most utility-scale solar projects are 2MW or larger. |
A paucity of data on total solar, and grid limitations |
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[ Note: One megawatt( MW) of power is equivalent to | |||
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one million watts or a thousand kilowatts( 1,000kW); 1 MW of electricity can power around 1,000 homes.]
Two proposed solar projects in the Ag Reserve serve as examples. Both are currently going through the regulatory process. The company behind them is Chaberton Solar, based in Rockville. One proposal is for a 3MW project on approximately 11 acres near
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Indeed, there’ s no official statewide count of utilityscale solar projects— completed, currently being evaluated by regulators, or projected. Nor is there any assessment of how much energy those facilities currently supply or will supply. Estimates of rooftop and parking lot projects are also outdated.
At the same time, the capacity of the electrical
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