Planning commission rejects amendment to lower solar acreage cap by over half

The Huron County Planning Commission voted 5-4 against a proposed amendment to the Utility-Scale Solar Energy Facility and Battery Energy Storage System ordinances that would lower the solar project acreage cap to 2,500 acres during its June 1 meeting.

Last week, the commission voted 7-2 to recommend lowering the cap from 15,000 to 9,000 acres.

Commissioner Deb Knarian, who proposed the motion, argued that the county has limited acreage available and it’s the commission’s job to protect agriculture in the area.

“I just really feel strongly that… the master plan drives the ordinance,” Knarian said. “If we determine that 1,500 acres, that we like that and we welcome more, then we can always add acreage. We can always do that, we can never go back.” 

Knarian added that she felt it was unreasonable that the county take on “more than our fair share” for solar projects. The Michigan Healthy Climate Plan says the state wants to produce 50% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. For solar, DTE intends to have more than 18,000 megawatts by 2040 and Consumers Energy plans to have 8,000 megawatts built by the same year. 

Divided equally among the 83 counties in Michigan, that would average to 313 megawatts per county. Utility-scale solar facilities must produce at least 50 megawatts, which require about 250 acres of land. 

In order to produce 313 megawatts of energy, each county would need to dedicate about 1,565 acres to solar projects. Huron County is currently proposing 9,000 acres dedicated to solar projects.

Vice Chairman Bernie Creuger expressed concern over losing bargaining power with developers if the acreage cap gets too low, who could go to the Michigan Public Service Commission and cut local input out of solar development entirely. 

Knarian pushed back, saying that by increasing the acreage cap and allowing more acreage than the county wants to, the county has already lost control of that land whether developers go to the state or not.

“If we only want 2,500 (acres) and we are agreeing to 10,000, then we’ve given up the difference that we didn’t want to control something we don’t want,” Knarian said. “What’s the point of having control of something we don’t want?” 

She added that she believes it’s important that the commission “draw a line in the sand” and make a decision that represents what county residents want.

Ultimately, the proposed language failed, with Commissioners Adam Hunt, Richard Swartzendruber, J. Dean Smith, Julie Epperson and Creuger voting no. Commissioners Bob Guzowski, Jeremy Polega, Chairman Bill Renn and Knarian voted yes. 

A special meeting to continue discussing the solar ordinance is tentatively scheduled for July 29 at 7 p.m. The next regular meeting of the planning commission is Aug. 5 at 7 p.m. Additional information on meetings can be found on the Huron County website.