The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council is set to discuss an ordinance that could pave the way for an 800-acre solar farm outside the city’s urban service boundary.
A zoning ordinance passed by Lexington’s planning commission last year banned solar farms from being built on agricultural land. A proposal would revise that to allow for some conditional use. It’s backed by Silicon Ranch, a solar company based out of Nashville.
Matt Beasley is the Chief Commercial Officer of Silicon Ranch. He says the farm would support an increased demand for energy, and would be minimally invasive to Lexington’s farmland.
“There are unprecedented demands for energy with the rise of AI data centers, crypto manufacturing coming to the United States, utilities and transmission operators across the country are seeing enormous demand, and so the project in Fayette County is in part to help support that demand," Beasley said.
Farmers and advocates say the solar farm would harm the local agriculture industry, and pollute the prime soils unique to the Bluegrass region.
Brittany Roethemeier is the executive director of Fayette Alliance, an advocacy group that advocates for the region’s farmland and sustainable growth.
“Our farmland is vital to carbon sequestration and our clean water and our clean air, and we have to make sure that as we work to support renewable energy, we're not undermining these other priorities of our communities," Roethemeier said.
The council is set to discuss the proposal Tuesday afternoon.
