HARMONY TOWNSHIP — Neighbors are raising concerns about the proposed massive solar facility, fearing potential impacts on their homes and farmland.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 6, Dave Cover, a resident of South Charleston for 25 years, learned in March about the potential development of the Sloopy Solar Energy Center near his home
The Sloopy Solar Energy Center is a proposed 180-megawatt solar power generation facility on approximately 1600 acres of land.
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Cover and his neighbors are worried about soil erosion and water runoff affecting their properties once the topsoil is removed for the solar farm.
“We’re sitting eight feet down from that field, where is that water going to go?” Cover said, expressing his concerns about the runoff from the clay soil.
He is part of the Harmony Farmland Preservation Coalition, a group that meets weekly to discuss the potential impacts of the solar farm on their community.
Ryan Vanportfliet, Director of Renewable Energy at Invenergy, said they are taking residents’ concerns seriously.
Invenergy held a public information meeting last week to hear the community’s concerns and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the solar project.
“We’re going to go out and continue to listen to the community...” Vanportfliet said.
He said there will be another public information meeting hopefully in the next four to five weeks.
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