Informational meetings on solar projects in Mason County will take place at the same time but in different locations, according to notices from the companies making the proposals.
The meetings are the result of a regulation approved by the Mason County Joint Planning Commission earlier this month that requires any company considering the construction of a solar facility in the county in which the acquisition of property is being considered to hold a public meeting within 30 days from the date of the request.
The meetings which adhere to that regulation will both be held on Aug. 11.
Goldfinch Solar will conduct a meeting in Maysville Community and Technical College’s lobby beginning at 6 p.m. and continuing until 8 p.m.
According to its notice, Goldfinch is proposing an up to 250 MW generation facility in Mason County.
Innergex Renewable Energy, Inc.’s public meeting will be held in the third-floor ballroom at the Cox Building in downtown Maysville, with a poster session beginning at 6 p.m., and a public meeting at 7 p.m. The notice does not specify the size of its proposed facility.
“Innergex is proposing a project to develop, finance, construct, own and operate a Solar Merchant Electric Generating Facility in Mason County, Kentucky,” the notice reads. “Innergex is happy to provide more information about the company, solar energy and early-stage information about the proposed solar merchant electric generating facility, during a Public Meeting.”
Several property owners, primarily in the May’s Lick area, have been approached by companies interested in leasing acreage for a solar farm.
Governing zoning regulations for solar farms will ultimately fall to the JPC.
If a project is sited in Mason County, construction will take about a year and could require as many as 500 construction workers, officials said. Full-time workers at a completed site would number about 10.
The proposed projects include up to 6,000 acres and could hold as many as 600,000 solar panels, according to information from the JPC meeting on the issue.
Those in favor of solar farms say they provide much-needed sources of renewable energy and bring in more tax revenue than farm land.
Those opposed say the solar projects take away valuable farmland that will never produce crops again, the panels can have adverse effects on water tables and water runoff and there is not a plan in place should a site ever be decommissioned.
