La Plata, MD – A large solar farm—a field of solar panels—that would provide enough electric power for approximately half of a major university is planned in Charles County and has drawn the attention of that jurisdiction’s robust environmental community–but not in way you would think. While renewable energy has been touted by environmentalists, the 240-acre, 100,000-solar panel farm planned for a tract on Shugart Valley Place is being opposed by environmentalists. The project would benefit Georgetown University, providing the school’s Washington, DC campus with 32.5 megawatts of power.
The project has already received the approval of the Charles County Department of Planning and Growth Management. The plan still needs the approval of the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). That agency will be conducting a three-hour public information hearing Wednesday evening, Feb. 27 at the Charles County Government building in La Plata from 6 to 9 p.m.
Georgetown University officials announced in September 2017 that they were collaborating with Origis Energy USA through a power purchase agreement to develop the offsite solar power system as a way to help the university fulfill its sustainability mission.
Among the groups opposing the project are the local chapters of the Sierra Club and Audubon Society. The latter group has declared the Shugart Valley Place parcel as an “important bird area.” Opponents who have established a Facebook page designed to encourage a packed house of opponents at the Feb. 27 hearing stated, “The forest is the largest forest in Southern Maryland and sits within the ancestral homelands of the Piscataway people, the indigenous people to these lands. The location is upstream from a DNR [Maryland Department of Natural Resources] Centennial Site and is a Targeted Ecological Area.
University officials counter that the solar farm project “reinforces Georgetown’s June 2017 announcement with other leading American universities reaffirming support of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the transition to a clean energy economy. It also significantly contributes to Georgetown’s ongoing effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from campus operations.”
According to MDE officials, the Feb. 27 information hearing has two parts. Site plans will be available for review from 6 – 7 p.m. and questions may be asked of the applicant and the department at that time. The public informational hearing will begin promptly at 7 p.m. and end at 9 p.m.
Written comments and requests to be included on the interested persons list may be sent by March 13, 2019 to the MDE, to the attention of Jeff Thompson, 1800 Washington Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21230 or emailed to Jeffrey.Thompson@maryland.gov. You may call 410-537-3828 for more information.
Previous story on the proposed solar farm.
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com