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The Charlotte County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a conditional use permit (CUP) application for the Moody Creek Solar Project on Aug. 28.

The action came following a closed session meeting on the project.
“This was a crucial step in the project’s development,” said Apex Senior Development Manager Don Giecek.

A public hearing concerning the CUP was held on Aug. 14 and of those who spoke all were in support of the project expect for citizen Richard Lawson, Jr. who noted that Blue Stone Creek was the only thing that separated his property from the solar farm property. “My concern is if anything happens to any of the panels what might happen as far as the waste or whatever is in those panels affecting Bluestone Creek and therefore lowering the property value of the property we own in that area,” said Lawson.

The Moody Creek Solar project calls for the construction of a 150 megavolt utility-scale solar facility (equivalent to 25,000 homes worth of energy). The proposed site, owned by Devein Logging Company/John A. Devin, Jr. & Armistead Tune Devin, is located on Route 47, Crafton’s Gate Highway, approximately 1.4 miles east of the traffic light at the intersection of Highway 360/15 and Route 47.

The solar farm is set to be constructed on property that is approximately 1,655 acres in size.
The solar project will be connected to the existing 115kV Pamplin to Chase City transmission line that crosses the project property and will include the installation of solar panel arrays, inverters, electrical transmission lines, an electric substation, other electrical equipment, gravel access roads, and fencing to secure the project area.
In total, approximately 555,000 solar panels will be installed after all project phases are completed.

SolUnesco and Apex submitted the CUP application at the end of 2018.