Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Though Lunenburg County’s first solar facility proposed has yet to become a reality, another solar developer is set to learn if its Conditional Use Permit (CUP) will be approved.

Apex Solar and ESA Solar Developers are proposing to construct and operate a 4-megawatt medium-scale solar facility on Dogwood Lane located just outside of Kenbridge.

The parcel consists of 32.48 acres.

As part of the CUP, the Lunenburg County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on Thursday, June 2, beginning at 7 p.m. in the 2nd floor Courtroom, Lunenburg Courts Building.

In March, the planning commission held a public hearing to determine if the developer’s request was in compliance with the Lunenburg-Kenbridge-Victoria Comprehensive Plan before moving to the CUP process.

Developers and the board of supervisors are still in negotiations on the siting agreement for Red Brick Solar.

Red Brick was set to be the county’s first solar facility that would have placed a solar photovoltaic power plant across 935 acres situated in north-central Lunenburg County, near the courthouse and about four miles southwest of Victoria.

Since last fall, developers and county officials have been working and negotiating the siting agreement.

In late October, Public Engagement Manager for Apex Clean Energy Patrick Chilton said developers of Red Brick had been negotiating with the county for 14 months over additional financial benefits the county would like and was hoping to hear a decision by at least the November Board of Supervisors meeting.

That decision never came.

According to Chilton, Red Brick Solar was offering to pay Lunenburg County an additional $1.7 million in local real estate taxes and $12 million in revenue share and cost savings over the project’s anticipated 40-year life.