Proposed Denton Pine solar project challenged

DENTON – Although the Denton Pine Solar Project applicants checked another box in a long list of requirements by the Maryland Public Service Commission, a possible compliance issue elsewhere may delay the project’s start, or even derail it. 

PSC Public Utility Law Judge Amy Schaeffer presided over a 6 p.m. in-person public comment hearing Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, at the Caroline County Health and Public Services Building in Denton.  

The purpose of the meeting was to inform the Hobbs Road community about the progress of the proposed solar project and to solicit feedback from property owners in the vicinity. 

About two dozen people, including representatives of ICFTS MD Solar, LLC, attended the meeting, with five attendees offering comments in person and one commenting remotely. No elected leaders or county officials attended the meeting in person or remotely. 

ICFTS MD Solar, LLC applied for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) on Nov. 21, 2025, to construct a 4.63 megawatt solar photovoltaic generating facility on 47 acres of a 164-acre parcel at 26844 Hobbs Road. The project will be interconnected to the Delmarva Power and Light grid at a new utility pole on Hobbs Road. 

The Denton Pine Solar Project, would be situated on flat farmland next to undeveloped forests, according to Power Plant Research Program (PPRP) Case Manager Mark Mank with the Department of Natural Resources. 

Five state agencies besides DNR were part of the PPRP: “Department of the Environment, Department of Agriculture, Transportation, Planning, Commerce, and the Maryland Energy Administration,” Mank said. 

Mank provided a fact sheet, while representatives of Summit Ridge Energy brought handouts promoting “what community solar means for your community.” 

Speaking on behalf of the Denton Pine Project were Attorney Colleen Collins and Joel Malefyt, vice president of project development at Summit Ridge Energy.  

Local subscribers to the community solar project “receive credits on your regular electrical bill for a share of that power,” Malefyt said. “You will keep your utility, and nothing will change about how the electricity will come to your home. …This means that the power is generated locally and stays local.” 

“Delmarva power customers, including homeowners, renters, small businesses, can sign up for a share of that project,” Malefyt said. “At least 40% of the project's output is reserved for low- and mid-income households. By law, those households are guaranteed at least 10% savings on their monthly electrical bill from the value of those solar credits. And other subscribers can also save between 5 and 15% on the monthly bill.” 

Mank said the Denton Pine Solar Project (PSC Case 9835), if permitted, “will contribute to state law requiring, by 2030, 50% of in-state generation comes from renewable energy. That's not just solar. 14.5% of that 50 would come from solar.” 

The applicant representatives did not say how many customers would be eligible to subscribe to the project. 

Neighboring property owners expressed quality-of-life concerns, including screening and fence maintenance, public safety access, noise produced by the solar array, and possible pollution of the agricultural soil and groundwater over time and the measures for mitigating it. 

Rick Turnell and his wife live on Willoughby Road close to the proposed project. “The farmland surrounding us sold their land development rights, and we knew that nobody was going to be building around us. And now here we have a solar panel going right down the street from us.” 

“It seems like Caroline County is being flooded right now with these solar panels,” Turnell said. “We don't have the right representation in Annapolis. We got the wrong governor. We're going down the wrong path, and we just are here to convey that we we're opposed to this, and we're not happy about it.” 

Three members of a neighboring farm family on Corkell Road asked the PSC to consider their concerns. John and Karen Booze addressed Schaeffer in person, while their daughter Jennifer spoke via ZOOM.  

“I'm against it because I think there's too many grids going up, specifically data centers, and I think that beyond this, beyond the solar farm, it's going to be something bigger and worse, and I hate to see that happen to this community,” Karen Booze said. She and her husband live part time at their 19th century Booze Family Farm and part-time in northern Virginia. 

John Booze said his concern is the project’s interference with his own project. “We have applied and received in June a grant to put irrigation ditches in to clean out and replace some of the ones we had on the farm and install new ones.” 

Additionally, Booze said he was aware of “another neighboring property that has an application for a solar permit, and evidently a code in Maryland says you can't have two adjoining solar generation projects.” 

Although the Booze farm’s conservation project has been approved by the state, Jennifer Booze said, “we've not seen a documented engineering assessment demonstrating that the proposed solar development is compatible with those improvements. PPRP has acknowledged that solar construction can alter drainage patterns and water holding capacity, so that's a huge concern for us.” 

She said the family recognizes the importance of renewable energy, but requested the PSC to “resolve outstanding statutory procedural questions and properly evaluate the consequences for neighboring agricultural operations” and “that approval be withheld until the co-location issue is resolved.” 

Holding up approval of the Denton Pine Solar Project is a possible conflicting project alluded to by John Booze. 

In a request for the applicant to show cause dated Oct. 28, 2026, Schaeffer pointed out MD-Stone Flag LLC applied for a 5 megawatt solar project at 26388 Hobbs Road, only a half-mile from the proposed Denton Pine project, on Oct. 25, 2023. The MD-Stone Flag Subscriber Organization Number was issued Feb. 26, 2024, more than three months before the Denton Pine project received an SO Number on June 7, 2014.  

Based on the requirements of Public Utility Articles in the Annotated Code of Maryland, construction of the Denton Pine Solar Project may be prohibited, unless the project can show cause by Nov. 13 why the Public Utility Law Judge Division should not stay the proceeding. 

Fourth generation farmer John Saathoff of Ridgely stood to support John Booze’s comments. He was concerned that screening be established and maintained. He also stressed the importance of drainage to the agricultural community. The bigger agricultural picture is important to consider, he said. 

“According to the late J.O.K. Walsh, who was a local historian, the first farms in Caroline County were patented in 1659, and Caroline County has had 350 consecutive years of agriculture as a number one industry – one of only 10 counties in the country that can say that,” Saathoff said. “So the people that are here have been farming for generations (and) are just looking to have the opportunity to continue that.” 

The deadline to file written public comments in this case is Friday, Nov. 13. Instructions for submitting written comments electronically or by mail can be accessed by going to the PSC's homepage and scrolling down to the section titled “Comment on a Case,” then click the link for “Learn More.” 

An evidentiary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 21, 2027. 

For more information on the CPCN process and PSC Case 9835 in particular, visit https://webpscxb.pscmaryland.com/DMS/case/9835