Large solar farm proposed near Milford
Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission heard plans at its May 12 meeting for the largest solar farm ever proposed in Sussex County.
Then at its May 26 meeting, commissioners voted to recommend approval of the conditional-use application filed by Freeman Solar LLC of New York City, a subsidiary of Brookfield Renewal US. Plans are for a 75-megawatt, transmission-level solar farm on 351 acres of farmland owned by Calhoun Ventures of Milford. The project would be built on both sides of Calhoun Road on the outskirts of the City of Milford on the west side of Route 113.
Brookfield Renewal is the leading renewable energy provider in the United States, with hydropower and solar and wind farm facilities.
David Hutt, the developer's attorney, said the plan calls for Freeman Solar to construct more than 166,500 sun-tracking solar panels at the site under a 20-year lease with the Calhoun family. The project would also include 25 inverters, transformers and a substation.
Hutt said the project complies with Senate Bill 33 passed in 2021, which mandates an increase of the state's renewable energy portfolio to 40 percent by 2035. He said the location was selected because of its proximity to a City of Milford electric substation.
Hutt said Freeman Solar would be responsible when the lease expires to remove all equipment to return the land to farm use. Two existing family farms would remain within the complex.
Hutt said there are six zoning classifications in and around the property, including general commercial, B-1 neighborhood commercial, AR-1, GR general residential, and HI heavy industrial commercial district. In addition, the property is bordered by high commercial and garden apartment-townhome district zoning in the City of Milford. He said most of the parcel is included in a county-designated developing area.
Addressing noise, buffer
Hutt said residents usually have three concerns when a solar farm is proposed – impact on property values, potential noise issues and the visual appearance of the panels.
Hutt the developer commissioned a detailed study that determined solar farms do not impact neighboring property values.
He said the noise generated by inverters and generators would only occur during daylight hours, and would not exceed state and federal standards. He said the noise would not exceed 45 decibels, which is the sound created by a refrigerator.
Hutt said the parcel would be surrounded by a 7-foot fence, and all areas adjacent to residences would be screened with a landscaped buffer. He said within five years, the buffer would be fully grown with trees not to exceed 15 feet in height.
Hutt said solar projects do not tax the infrastructure system, do not impact the environment and create very limited traffic.
John Soininen, project manager, explained the process to the commission. He said the inverters would collect the energy generated by the solar panels and convert it from direct current to alternating current. The inverters would be 8 feet high and less than 6 feet long. The electricity would then be converted from 680 volts to 34,500 volts using a step-up transformer and relayed to a substation where the electricity would be converted to 115,000 volts and then to Milford's substation connected to the electric grid. The operation would be monitored at an off-site SCADA operations center.
During public testimony, Calhoun Ventures owner Donna Calhoun said when the family was approached by the company about a solar farm, she had a lot of questions. “We worked through all that. I truly believe in this project, and it will really make a difference,” she said.
Sussex County Council will hear the application at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 14, in the county administration building, 2 The Circle, Georgetown.
