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Dominion Energy will get the conditional use permit as requested for their Quarter Horse Solar project. The Charlotte County Board of Supervisors, by unanimous vote, approved both the permit and its siting agreement during their Wednesday, Aug. 14 meeting. So with that said, what’s in the final agreement? Have a look. 

The project already had a conditional use permit (CUP) in place, dating back to Aug. 2019, when it was still called Moody Creek. Then the original owners, Apex Clean Energy Holdings, sold it to Dominion Energy. And Dominion wants to make some changes to that original plan, scaling things back and making a few design changes. And that meant coming back before county officials. 

But before going over changes, let’s give some background on the project itself. This one’s been in the works since 2018, which is when the original owner, Apex Clean Energy Holdings LLC, filed the application for Moody Creek Solar. The property sits near Crafton’s Gate Highway, adjacent to Charlotte County’s line with Mecklenburg. It’s roughly 2.3 miles southeast of the intersection of State Route 47 and State Route 360. Apex ended up terminating its lease agreement with the property owner back in June 2023.

That’s when Dominion entered the picture, setting up its own option agreement and applying for a permit for what became Quarter Horse Solar. Now things have changed a bit from the time of the original application. For example, back then, siting agreements were not allowed by the Virginia State Code. That’s a new tool established in recent years where cities, towns and counties negotiate with developers about what compensation for allowing their solar project will look like. 

Changes to Quarter Horse Solar deal  

Ok, so now we can go through the changes happening to the project, now that the permit has been approved. The original proposal by Apex called for a massive 150 megawatt solar farm. We say massive because in 2024, it would be one of the largest approved in the state. The closest in this region would be Mountain Pine Solar, an 80-megawatt project signed off on by Buckingham supervisors back in February. The largest current solar project in the state is a 175-megawatt facility, just east of Richmond. 

As part of the revised application, Dominion wants to reduce this one in Charlotte County to a 125-megawatt project. One megawatt is equivalent to 1 million watts, so a 125-megawatt project would have the capacity to generate or transmit roughly 125 million watts of power when developed. 

This would also be one of the largest in size as well. That Buckingham project we referred to came in at 1,065 acres. The leased property for Quarter Horse comes to an estimated 1,678 acres, with 1,662 in Charlotte County. The other 16 acres are in Mecklenburg County and are excluded from the project. All total, Dominion only expects to use an estimated 222 acres for solar panels. 

Also changing as part of the revised plan are the number of solar panels to be installed. Dominion wants to put the maximum number at 291,384. That’s down from 554,250 in the original Moody Creek plans. 

Environmental changes and new date set

There are some environmental changes happening as well. One of the issues raised by residents in the original application was the smaller buffer with neighboring properties. Dominion’s plan increases setbacks and buffers to meet Charlotte County’s current development standards. This would include a 75-foot setback to neighboring properties. Also, the closest distance to the highway now exceeds 1,800 feet. 

There are three cemeteries on the property as well. Dominion plans to put a 100-foot buffer around each of them, keeping all construction and work away. 

Also changing as part of the revised application is the project schedule. This smaller facility would take an estimated 18 months to build. If it gets approval during the meeting later this week, Quarter Horse would start construction in 2027. 

What about payment? 

Now the deal calls for Charlotte County to receive payment from Dominion in a number of ways over the next few years. First, within 30 days of the conditional use permit approval, Dominion will pay the county $520,000. 

Now beyond the county permits, Dominion also has to get approval from the state before a project like this can be activated. They have to go before the State Corporation Commission and get what’s called a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN). Since the SCC in most cases defers to what’s happened locally in these situations, and given that the county has signed off on the project twice now, it’s most likely that application will be approved. Within 60 days of getting that CPCN permit, Dominion will pay Charlotte County $1.04 million. Then, 30 days after the switch is flipped and power is being generated, Dominion has agreed to give the county another $1.56 million. 

Then there are the annual payments. Dominion will pay Charlotte County $1,400 per megawatt generated per year when the facility is up and running, with an escalation factor of 10% in five years. 

All of that is part of the siting agreement approved for Quarter Horse, which is expected to have a 35-year lifespan.