Developers of the Moody Creek Solar Project recently held an open house at Bacon District Volunteer Fire Department to introduce the proposed solar development project to local residents, and to provide answers to any questions they might have about the project, solar power or the technology behind it.
As previously reported in The Charlotte Gazette construction for the Moody Creek Solar project is set to occur between spring or summer 2020.
Members of the orientation and informational camps of co-developers Apex Clean Energy and SolUnesco were on hand and even wind energy had an ample representation at the open house.
Charlottesville based Apex Clean Energy’s main focus has been developing overland wind energy facilities. Partnering with SolUnesco, a Reston based company that develops utility scale solar farms, is an opportunity to diversify its portfolio.
According to Apex Clean Energy’s website the Moody Creek Project is one of four solar projects purchased from SolUnesco. The partnership began with a 425MW (mega watt), four project purchase by Apex which included 150MW Carter’s Creek, 130MW Red Brick, 12.5MW Rivanna and the 150MW Moody Creek .
Local response and attendance numbers to the Moody Creek Solar open house was low. The reasons, however, for the low turnout to the meet and greet event remain unclear. The location of the evening event, Bacon district volunteer fire department, is a short distance from the proposed Moody Creek project.
Charlie Johnson, Senior Development Manager with Apex Clean Energy explained why the Moody Creek site was chosen, “the site has already met a couple of major considerations. The site is surrounded for the most part by trees, and exceeds the buffering distance requirements.”
“Also,” he added, “there are transmission lines crossing the site, and they happen to cross right along one edge, with excellent connection sites.”
Charlotte County administration officials are currently addressing the vast number of details needing consideration prior to approval of the conditional land use permit for the project.
Purchasing Agent and Planner for Charlotte County, Monica Elder said, “Moody Creek is 10 times larger than the other (solar project) we did. We have to make sure that everything is done right.”
The other solar facility Elder referred to is the15MW Twitty’s Creek solar project.
Due to size of the proposed Moody Creek project, which will cover between 1,600-1,700 acres, the Charlotte County Planning Commission is currently reviewing the county’s Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2016. The reason for the review is to make sure the plan and the Moody Creek conditional land use permit are in agreement. A public hearing is being scheduled due to the nature of the review.