Prince William leaders approve major solar energy facility

WOODBRIDGE — Prince William County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a special use permit for Virginia Solar- a  developer based in Henrico County – to begin construction of a solar farm in Nokesville.

Nokesville Solar will be located on 331 acres at what was previously known as Dixon Farm on 13204 Warrenton Road.

This is the first utility-scale solar plant of this size in Prince William County, according to Matthew Meares, the principal at Virginia Solar.

The solar farm will cover 225 acres and generate 45,000 MWH (megawatt hours) a year, enough to power 3,300 homes a year.

“So while this is a quite large county, it will make a dent in the overall energy usage, at least a little bit,” Meares told members of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.

During Meares’ presentation, he elaborated on several concerns that the project has been met with. One is the formation of a “heat island”  – an area, according to the EPA, that has built up the heat and is warmer than its surrounding areas, thus causing dangerous air quality. This won’t happen, he explained.

“There’s airflow and vegetation all around these solar panels to mitigate any heat effect,” Meares said.

Meares mentioned that solar panels don’t require much water – there is enough rainfall produced by Virginia’s climate to clean them regularly. There will be some water used during construction to keep dust minimal, but other than that, Meares said, the grass underneath the solar panels should “mitigate our erosion concerns and help stabilize the soil”.  

Virginia Solar will also be responsible for obtaining a stormwater permit required by the county.

When it comes to the look of the solar farm, the visual impact should be minor. The solar panels rotate throughout the day tracking the sun and never reach a height of more than 13 feet, Meares explained.

Solar panels are made out of a non-reflective material to absorb the sun and they will leave a native tree buffer all around the project, and there won’t be any high voltage lines.

Meares said they chose Prince William County for several reasons.

“We came here because of the available electrical infrastructure. It was a relatively flat piece of land, there’s very little truly flat land in Virginia but it’s relatively flat. And we’re in close proximity to all these data centers and those are major buyers of solar-generated electricity,” said Meares.  

Meares asked that the Board waive a requirement that Virginia Solar pave Warrenton Road.

“The reason for this is the project’s not going to generate any long-term traffic,” Meares said.

Other than initial construction, the solar farm will only require someone driving to the property once a month. The project will be going through several months of state and stormwater permits and then will hopefully begin construction towards the end of next year.

At the end of the life of the project, the solar panel components will be removed and the land will be returned to green space or another authorized use. Virginia Solar will then provide the county a bond providing funding to pay for the decommissioning of the property.

A total of 106 acres of unused land on the project site could be turned into trails that connect to adjacent Nokesville Park.

Tiziana Bottino, the founder of the Greater Prince William Climate Action Network, spoke in favor of the solar farm.

“I applaud the solar proposal in Prince William County, which will help stabilize our grid, contribute to the economy, and bring long-term jobs and result in cleaner air and a cleaner environment in our county,” Bottino said.

Paula Clements, a Fairfax County resident who is also the chair of the Climate Reality Project in Northern Virginia, said “I applaud your county for taking the lead. I’m jealous.  Fairfax County has been working on it and we don’t seem to be making much progress.”

“Air doesn’t just stay in your county, it comes over to Clifton as well,” Clements added.

Others, including Virginia McIntosh, the current owner of the farm, spoke in favor of the solar farm and the remaining acreage being used for the public.

Some supporters of the solar farm were concerned about the unused acreage being removed from the Agricultural and Forestal District, a program that offers benefits to property owners.

The overwhelming support that the solar farm was met with was a pleasant surprise to Meares, who said he is used to seeing that many people – more, in fact – in opposition to solar projects.

He said that citizens usually are worried about the visual impact, noise during construction, and the concern about the end of the life for the project. He also said that some counties get worried that you’re going to cover the whole county with solar panels and take over the land.

“I’ve never had that many people in support of a solar project before,” Meares said.