DENTON – At their Dec. 10 meeting, the Caroline County Commission advanced a proposed 15-acre solar array another step.
The three county commissioners approved a Memorandum of Option to Ground Lease with Boston-based Nexamp Solar LLC. Beginning from May 14, 2024, Nexamp has 24 months to exercise the option and lease land on the capped and closed Hobbs Road Landfill site.
“During the 24-month period, no payment will be made,” Deputy County Manager Daniel Fox stated in a Dec. 13 email. “The only action that starts to create payments required is the execution of the option.”
Using “useless” ground
Nexamp Solar originally approached the county with a proposed lease agreement Sept. 26, 2023.
On May 14, Fox presented a slide show describing the 15-acre Nexamp project, located at 26375 Hobbs Road, emphasizing the revenue the solar array could generate for the county.
The former landfill site comprises nearly 42 acres. It was bought by the county in October 1990 and operated as a landfill until it was capped about 20 years later.
Commissioner Frank Bartz emphasized Dec. 10 that the land on which the solar array would be placed is “literally useless … we're actually trying to save a little bit agriculture land” from solar development.
“Hobbs is a closed county landfill,” Commission President Travis Breeding said. “It is a closed and currently monitored landfill, and the only one in the county that that has the potential to have solar added on top of it.”
On Dec. 13 the Caroline County Government stated on its Facebook page, “We know there’s been a lot of concern and conversation in the community about solar projects, and we want to make it clear that the Commissioners hear you.”
The Commissioners “do not want to see our county overrun with solar farms,” the Facebook post continued. “However, they also have to follow state regulations that require a certain amount of land to be used for renewable energy production. By allowing this solar project on the Hobbs Road site, the Commissioners have actually preserved 15 acres of prime agricultural land that could have been used for this project instead.”
The county set a 2,000-acre limit for solar array projects.
The Cherrywood Solar I LLC project currently under construction along State Route 313 between Greensboro and Goldsboro will occupy nearly 740 acres.
At the Maryland Association of Counties Winter Conference in Cambridge, Caroline County leaders and officials attended the opening roundtable Dec. 11. The topic was the “state’s energy landscape.”
During the roundtable Maryland Energy Administration Director Paul Pinsky reminded attendees that the state has set a goal of 100% clean energy by 2035.
Solar energy needs to be part of that goal, Pinsky said. “That being said, for those you in more rural areas, particularly the Eastern Shore, agricultural land needs to be part of that.” He estimated that less than 2% of farmland would be committed to solar. Although he was initially opposed to nuclear energy, Pinsky said it may need to be part of a green energy “all-of-above” approach. While panelists raised the possibility of the state’s pre-empting local statutes, they steered clear of committing to preemption as a clean energy strategy.
Nexamp project to generate revenue
In September 2023, Nexamp Solar presented a proposal “to finance, build, own and maintain solar facilities at the Caroline County landfill on Hobbs Road in Denton … and extend the financial benefits of the generated electricity, land lease and tax revenue to the Caroline County Government and Caroline County Public Schools.”
The Aggregate Net Energy Metering (ANEM) solar financial benefit would be about $1,050 per acre, with a 2% annual increase. Savings to the county in Delmarva Power utility billing would be about $15,400, and annual savings to the Board of Education would be about $32,000.
Calculated property tax revenue would be an additional $90,000. The first-year benefit is projected to be just over $121,000.
However, the $90,000 tax revenue would depreciate to an estimated $33,570 by the end of the solar array’s 20-year cycle.
After 20 years, the county could receive a total benefit of $2 million, according to Nexamp.
Nexamp bills itself as veteran-founded and locally-owned solar provider that currently partners with the City of Salisbury, Maryland, Queen Anne’s County, the Elkton Housing Authority and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, among others.
The company has worked with Maryland Environmental Service and has experience with landfill properties and complying with state environmental regulations, Fox said.
On May 14, the commissioners voted unanimously to pursue further development of the project.
Commission Vice President Larry Porter said he agreed with Bartz that the project was a “wise use” of land.
“I'd rather see it there,” Porter said. “In fact, I'd like to see there be some innovation done where solar could put on in areas that are not usable instead of taking up farmland. I think this is something I could support.”
Porter reconfirmed that no battery storage, for which there is a county moratorium, was associated with the Nexamp project.