Sussex council approves 91-acre solar field

Even after a resident's tearful plea not to approve a solar farm near her house, at its April 2 meeting Sussex County Council unanimously approved a conditional-use application filed by Millsboro Solar LLC to construct the project.

Linda Nwadike, representing SunEnergy, said the 6-megawatt array will feed into the power grid in a partnership with Delmarva Power. The project will be located on both sides of Nine Foot Road between Dagsboro and Frankford on 91 acres of farmland leased from the Rickards family. She said the solar farm will cover about 79 acres of the parcel and take five months to complete.

Sussex County Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the application at its Feb. 28 meeting.

Nwadike said the late Bruce Rickards, who placed solar panels on his business and house, had a dream of a solar field on his property. “His family is following through on that,” she said.

She said the closest panel would be 200 feet from the Rickards residence and 500 feet from the only other house adjacent to the property.

Nwadike said the parcel would be fenced in and have a 30-foot buffer with at least 12 evergreen trees and 10 shrubs per 100 feet, as outlined in county code.

Bryan and Adrienne Miller, who are the only residents near the parcel besides the property owners, said when they purchased their home they were not told that a solar farm was planned on the farm next to them. “If we had known this, we would have never bought the house,” Adrienne said.

As a survivor of a bone-marrow transplant to treat her cancer, Adrienne said she is worried that possible emissions could affect her health. “What will this do to my bone-marrow transplant?” she asked. “Can you guarantee I'll be OK? No one can prove this will not affect me. I've done research.”

Councilman John Rieley asked her if she had documentation about possible emissions from solar farms. “I'm not aware there are any emissions or studies that show they emit anything,” he said.

She said she could not produce any documentation at the meeting, but she has read three or four reports on the internet stating that fields where solar farms are removed can't be used for farming for 15 to 20 years. “If it does something to the land. What does it emit?” she asked. “I can't afford to take that chance. If a panel becomes broken, what does it emit?”

Nwadike said solar panels do not pose a health or safety issue to the public. She said solar technology has been around for 50 years and is being utilized more and more.

Greg Hanket, of the University of Delaware's Institute of Energy Conversion, said solar panels pose no danger and are made of common, nonhazardous materials such as silicon, aluminum and glass.

Bryan Miller said they found out about the project when they received a letter from Sussex County notifying them of two upcoming public hearings. He said no one representing the applicant reached out to them.

This is the fourth solar field approved by council over the past eight years. In February, council approved a conditional-use application filed by Spangler Strategic Advisers LLC for a 70-acre solar farm south of Georgetown.

In 2012, council approved an application filed by Delaware Electric Cooperative for a 40-acre solar farm near Georgetown. In April 2015, council approved a 400-panel site to provide electricity to the Sussex County Emergency Operations Center near Georgetown.