Solar farm approved in Newton Twp.

Newton Twp. officials agreed to allow a solar farm developer to build a little more than 23,000 panels in the township.

The township’s zoning hearing board granted conditional use to SR1 Captura Sage Holdco I LLC, Penn Renewables LLC, Lackawanna Airport I, II, III, IV and V, all of San Francisco, last month to build approximately 23,600 panels on about 94 acres of a 120-acre parcel on Airport Drive, Neal Thatcher, attorney for the developers, said. The project also includes an access road, screening buffering, landscaping and setbacks.

The developers will lease the land from Marco Richione III of South Abington Twp.

Thatcher said the developers provided detailed testimony, including from experts, as well as written information and reports showing the proposed farm complies with the township’s ordinance on solar panels.

“We were able to submit and provide detailed testimony on all the criteria that is required of an applicant for a conditional use for a solar farm to demonstrate that we meet and comply with all of those requirements and the project will meet and comply with all of those requirements,” he said.

The developers chose the location because they don’t want the panels to be visible to nearby residents, Thatcher said. It will include screening and buffering between the panels and neighboring properties.

The board approved the project with multiple conditions, including that the developer obtain subdivision and land development approval from the township, enter a decommissioning agreement with the township, submit an operations and maintenance plan with the township before operating the panels, replace damaged equipment, not store hazardous waste, provide an emergency response plan, notify neighboring property owners about construction, limit construction to daytime hours, comply with all laws and regulations, and maintain a 100-foot setback from adjacent properties.

Thatcher said the developer would enter into the decommissioning agreement.

He said farms like the one approved last month meet the demand for energy, which is increasing in response to data processing, artificial intelligence, cloud-based storage and other energy-intensive uses. They ensure energy is available and reliable.

“That’s especially true in extreme weather conditions like we’ve experienced here recently,” he said.

It also provides a local power source as the panels will be plugged into the PP&L grid and the power will go directly to the township, Thatcher said. The developer will also pay for the new power infrastructure.

“We believe that solar should be embraced and not feared,” he said. “There is certainly a potential energy crisis where energy demand is really increasing at rapid rates.”

The developer plans to subdivide the property and apply for permits for the project, Thatcher said.

The solar project is the second proposed in the township in the last year. In the fall, the township supervisors denied a plan by Massachusetts-based Newton Solar 1 and Borrego Solar Systems Inc. of Oakland, California, to put nearly 12,000 solar panels on 24 acres of a 53-acre parcel on Hillside Drive near Newton Ransom Boulevard and Country Club Drive.

Supervisors cited resident health and safety, particularly of those living near the property, and deed restrictions on the property, which allow only for agricultural use, as well as not providing information proving a solar farm is allowable in the township and the panels’ impact on the township’s character as factors in their decision.

The developer appealed the decision in December.