SOLAR DILEMMA: Solar energy on farms a continuing dilemma in county

By Debbie Wachter | New Castle News (Part 1 of 4)
A Texas energy company with its sights set on installing shoulder-to-shoulder solar energy panels on contiguous prime farmland in North Beaver Township is facing an uphill struggle to continue with its proposed project for electricity generation.
But should the political climate for the venture change and its plans materialize — and in an effort to promote its goodwill in the area — Vesper Energy of Allen, Texas, has promised to pay the Mohawk Area School District $250,000 a year annually for 40 years if its project materializes. The school district accepted that offer.

Vesper’s proposed project, Firefly Solar, would create a 200-megawatt solar energy network on prime farmland, specifically in North Beaver. Vesper proposes the operation would create enough renewable, American-made energy to power a large number of homes and businesses while generating about $1.6 million per year in state and local tax revenue from operations.
The solar farm concept, which first surfaced in western Lawrence County a few years ago, drew opposition from many residents who attended a public township supervisors meeting in 2021, protesting Vesper’s plans to install hundreds of lithium battery-operated panels on contiguously leased agricultural lands.
The supervisors in a 2-1 vote at that time adopted a solar energy ordinance restricting the commercial/industrial use of solar panels to industrial zones designated on the township zoning map. That measure effectively has stymied the company’s options for leasing land for its solar venture.
Reasons some residents cited for their consternation about the plans were the unsightliness of the panels as opposed to looking at rural farmland, concerns about the company staying in business for the project duration, its pledge of payment and terms in the leases with farmers, the continued upkeep of the system and panels, the inability to farm prime acres and what will happen to the panels after the project is decommissioned.
The township ordinance requires a company establishing a commercial/industrial solar project to post a bond to cover 85 percent of the cost to pay for its someday removal and disposal when the project is decommissioned.
Vesper’s financial pledge to the Mohawk school district was the same proposal it made last fall to the Lawrence County government via the county commissioners and to the North Beaver Township supervisors. Neither the county nor the township accepted the offer.
The district’s administration signed a “contribution agreement” to accept the funds should the Firefly project commence. The district by accepting would stand to collect $10 million from Vesper over the 40 years of the project, according to a district-generated news release.
Vesper proposed to the district, the county commissioners and the North Beaver supervisors if the project commences, it will also pay each of those governing entities the $250,000 a year for 40 years — beyond the life of the project, estimated to be 25 to 35 years — should the company’s plans come to fruition.
That equates to $30 million total to all three governing bodies over the 40-year term the company has promised.
Mohawk’s Solicitor Russell Lucas of the Pittsburgh law firm Andrews & Price LLC said in a phone interview the school board members have been made aware of its terms.
“There’s really nothing that the district is promising to do, except to accept the money,” Lucas emphasized. “The district is not taking a position on the project.”
He emphasized the district has no obligation to advocate for the project publicly or to pledge support.
“That’s a pretty significant amount of money and is not in lieu of taxes, and there is no quid pro quo,” Lucas said.
The county commissioners, instead of accepting the offer, informed Vesper officials that they would respect the rights of the township officials who decided to prohibit the project on prime farmland.
“We respect the wishes of the municipal officials, especially in those municipalities that have zoning ordinances,” Commissioner Chairman Dan Vogler emphasized. “If they decided not to allow these in certain zoned areas, we have no authority to overrule them, and we would respect their right to do that.”
Erin Baker, Vesper’s director of development for the Firefly project, had sent an email to the commissioners in September, offering the same “community benefit agreement” to county government as it did to the school district. She wrote the company had made the same offer to North Beaver Township.
“The commissioners have not signed anything to accept this,” Vogler said, adding that the commissioners have not heard anything more from the company in several months.
“I respect the autonomy of local municipalities,” he said. “They don’t report to the commissioners, and I don’t believe as a commissioner that we should be trying to influence them.”
Former Commissioner Morgan Boyd, who was chairman of the commissioners when that correspondence was received, responded in a return email last September that “the board of commissioners is going to refrain from taking any action on this proposal until such time as the North Beaver Township board of supervisors takes action on it.”


North Beaver Supervisor Grant McKinley said that there are no plans to change or repeal the township ordinance, rather, “the ordinance is solid.”
Firefly Solar in an attempt to gain momentum for its project has scheduled two meetings this week. The company has invited local landowners to a dinner Wednesday at Edward’s Restaurant in New Castle to educate them more about the proposed project and cleaner energy and what the company predicts would be a stronger economy.
The solar company also has scheduled a noontime vendor open house at the American Legion ity to farm prime acres and what will happen to the panels after the project is decommissioned.
The township ordinance requires a company establishing a commercial/industrial solar project to post a bond to cover 85 percent of the cost to pay for its someday removal and disposal when the project is decommissioned.
Vesper’s financial pledge to the Mohawk school district was the same proposal it made last fall to the Lawrence County government via the county commissioners and to the North Beaver Township supervisors. Neither the county nor the township accepted the offer.
The district’s administration signed a “contribution agreement” to accept the funds should the Firefly project commence. The district by accepting would stand to collect $10 million from Vesper over the 40 years of the project, according to a district-generated news release.
Vesper proposed to the district, the county commissioners and the North Beaver supervisors if the project commences, it will also pay each of those governing entities the $250,000 a year for 40 years — beyond the life of the project, estimated to be 25 to 35 years — should the company’s plans come to fruition.
That equates to $30 million total to all three governing bodies over the 40-year term the company has promised.
Mohawk’s Solicitor Russell Lucas of the Pittsburgh law firm Andrews & Price LLC said in a phone interview the school board members have been made aware of its terms.
“There’s really nothing that the district is promising to do, except to accept the money,” Lucas emphasized. “The district is not taking a position on the project.”
He emphasized the district has no obligation to advocate for the project publicly or to pledge support.
“That’s a pretty significant amount of money and is not in lieu of taxes, and there is no quid pro quo,” Lucas said.
The county commissioners, instead of accepting the offer, informed Vesper officials that they would respect the rights of the township officials who decided to prohibit the project on prime farmland.
“We respect the wishes of the municipal officials, especially in those municipalities that have zoning ordinances,” Commissioner Chairman Dan Vogler emphasized. “If they decided not to allow these in certain zoned areas, we have no authority to overrule them, and we would respect their right to do that.”
Erin Baker, Vesper’s director of development for the Firefly project, had sent an email to the commissioners in September, offering the same “community benefit agreement” to county government as it did to the school district. She wrote the company had made the same offer to North Beaver Township.
“The commissioners have not signed anything to accept this,” Vogler said, adding that the commissioners have not heard anything more from the company in several months.
“I respect the autonomy of local municipalities,” he said. “They don’t report to the commissioners, and I don’t believe as a commissioner that we should be trying to influence them.”
Former Commissioner Morgan Boyd, who was chairman of the commissioners when that correspondence was received, responded in a return email last September that “the board of commissioners is going to refrain from taking any action on this proposal until such time as the North Beaver Township board of supervisors takes action on it.”
North Beaver Supervisor Grant McKinley said that there are no plans to change or repeal the township ordinance, rather, “the ordinance is solid.”
Firefly Solar in an attempt to gain momentum for its project has scheduled two meetings this week. The company has invited local landowners to a dinner Wednesday at Edward’s Restaurant in New Castle to educate them more about the proposed project and cleaner energy and what the company predicts would be a stronger economy.
The solar company also has scheduled a noontime vendor open house at the American Legion Post 343 on North Jefferson Street for contractors, skilled laborers and business owners to learn more about potential regional business partnerships once Firefly Solar enters the construction phase.
(Tomorrow: A North Beaver farmer’s view of the ability to lease his land for solar energy use.)

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