Isle of Wight County supervisors, in separate 3-2 votes, approved the county’s 11th and largest solar farm and rejected a smaller project that would have been its 12th.

Sycamore Cross Solar LLC, named for its proposed Sycamore Cross Drive location 12 miles west of Smithfield at the westernmost edge of the Isle of Wight-Surry county line, will occupy more than 2,200 acres across both counties.

Two phases, dubbed Sycamore Cross A and B, are to generate a combined 221 megawatts across 2,000 acres in Isle of Wight County. Surry County has yet to approve its share, which would generate another 19 megawatts across 125 acres for 240 megawatts in total.

The Sept. 19 votes overturned a 6-2 vote by Isle of Wight County’s Planning Commission in May to recommend denial of the Arlington-based AES Clean Energy’s requested conditional use permit.

The supervisors approved the project in three separate votes – two permitting the Sycamore Cross A and B phases, and one approving a siting agreement with AES that pledges $3.8 million in upfront payments to the county prior to the start of commercial operations. All three votes saw the same 3-2 split.

Supervisors William McCarty, Rudolph Jefferson and Renee Rountree each voted in favor of Sycamore Cross, while Supervisor Don Rosie and Board of Supervisors Chairman Joel Acree opposed it.

Rountree, earlier in the Sept. 19 meeting, joined with Acree and Rosie in a 3-2 vote denying approval to a smaller, 3-megawatt solar farm Denver-based Pivot Energy subsidiary Elk Development LLC had proposed for just under 23 acres, down from the original proposed 27, on Old Stage Highway. Rountree said she supported Sycamore Cross, but not Elk Development, because the former is located in a sparsely populated rural area while the latter would be less than a mile from Hardy Elementary and just over 750 feet from the closest residence in Wrenn’s Mill, a subdivision with more than 100 homes.

Rountree said she received roughly 100 signatures in support of Sycamore Cross, while the Elk Development project produced a petition bearing the signatures of hundreds of residents in opposition.

McCarty cited the nearly $1 million impact Keurig Dr Pepper’s announced December closure of its roasting plant in the county’s Shirley T. Holland Intermodal Park will have on the county’s budget, and the $3.8 million Sycamore Cross siting agreement’s ability to make up for the loss, among his reasons for supporting the project.

“We have to make the best decision for the economics of the county,” McCarty said, contending the supervisors must look at projects through a “different lens” than the Planning Commission.

The approved siting agreement proposes to pay Isle of Wight $1.5 million plus a $50,000 payment for emergency services within 60 days of approval of the Sycamore Cross’s conditional use permits, another $1.5 million within 60 days of site plan approval and $250,000 at the start of commercial operation.

Once operations begin, Sycamore Cross is projected to generate $7.2 million in machinery and tools taxes and $4.3 million in real estate taxes, for a total $15.3 million in revenue to the county, including the siting agreement payments over its 35-year lifespan.

Rosie cited “saturation” among his reasons for opposing the project. Sycamore Cross would tie into an existing substation serving the 2021-approved Cavalier solar farm 2½ miles away, which is also being developed by AES and is slated to commence commercial operation by Oct. 31.

The adopted Sycamore Cross siting agreement specifies that Isle of Wight will receive its upfront payments regardless of whether Surry County approves its share of the project. 

AES has appealed a June vote by Surry’s Planning Commission that found the project to be in conflict with that county’s comprehensive plan. 

That appeal was originally scheduled to be heard Sept. 12, but according to County Attorney Lola Perkins, was deferred to October at the developer’s request.

Surry’s Planning Commission, in a unanimous June 26 vote, found the project “not substantially in accord” with a 2023-adopted energy policy amendment to the county’s comprehensive plan, which specifies solar farms must be within one mile of existing high-voltage electric transmission lines.

AES proposes to use existing high-voltage transmission lines located within the footprint of the 1,750-acre Cavalier solar farm, which also straddles the Isle of Wight-Surry line.

But Surry’s Planning Commission, in June, found a conflict due to the majority of the project being located in Isle of Wight, which would be more than one mile away from the transmission lines in Surry.

The Planning Commission further found “insufficient information” on “noise reduction, financial benefits and decommissioning.”

Under Surry’s procedures, a solar farm developer must obtain a favorable “substantial accord” determination from the Planning Commission prior to beginning the conditional use permit application process. If the Planning Commission finds a project not in substantial accord with the comprehensive plan, a developer must appeal to the Board of Supervisors.

If the Planning Commission’s decision is overturned, the conditional use permit will be vetted by Surry’s Planning Commission and its Board of Supervisors.