Daviess Co. looks to adopt new solar rules

Daviess County is no stranger to the energy business.

For years the city of Washington operated its own power plant; before and after that the county had coal mines that provided the fuel for power plants across the state. But increasingly, power suppliers are turning to renewable energy sources.

Washington is already home to a solar park, but it appears the county is under increasing pressure to produce more solar energy, with requests growing to construct more solar parks.

“I have been approached by two solar companies personally,” said Daviess County Commissioner and farmer Michael Taylor. “It is time for us to act on this.

“We have received a lot of inquiries. Local land owners are beginning to work on land leases with solar farms, and I have heard there are even some requests for wind turbines.”

The Daviess County Advisory Plan Commission has been tasked by the county commissioners to come up with a set of rules that will regulate solar expansion.

“The Advisory Plan Commission has done a lot of work on this,” said Daviess County Commissioners President Nathan Gabhart.

“They will be making their recommendations. We need to have something that provides protections for existing land owners. It seems like anything we do will have some kind of consequence on somebody.

“We are trying to thread that needle that welcomes the solar farms without negatively impacting the adjoining land owners.”

Officials say some solar farms under discussion in southern Indiana will produce electricity comparable to a power plant.

Daviess County is looking at ordinances produced from around the state and from neighboring counties to come up with the best protections for the land owners, neighbors, the county and the companies.

“Now that we have seen what has happened in other counties and their ordinances, we take the best pieces out of them,” Gabhart said. “We want to be pro-business but still protect existing land owners.

“We have a draft already. Before we take action, I want to hear from the APC and Economic Development and any feedback from the community that we have not received already.”