Solar developer Silicon Ranch plans to put an industrial installation on 830 acres in rural Madison County, but some residents are reluctant.
Thursday night, the Madison County Board of Adjustments held a public hearing for input on the project off Crooksville Road, roughly 10 miles south of Richmond and close to the Central Kentucky Wildlife Management Area. The acreage is the equivalent to more than 628 football fields.
The board tabled a decision on whether to approve permits in order to get more information.
Silicon Ranch says its Madison County project has been in the works since 2020, and the company has been acquiring land since then, having optioned nine properties for the project.
“It has become a big business for us,” Bob Corney, Silicon Ranch’s director of public affairs, said at an open house last month.
The company operates such installations on an agrivoltaics model. Below a grid of mounted solar panels, the land is still able to be used. Silicon Ranch intends to hire shepherds and deploy flocks of sheep to graze the property.
“We produce a lot of meat every year. We're growing. We hope to be in a bigger posture next year with other wholesale opportunities in our meat production, but it is also an energy project,” Corney said.
Around 60% of the land would be used for the solar array, with the rest acting as a buffer between for nearby property owners.
“There's many existing tree screens between adjacent neighbors, those will remain,” Corney said. “There is some timbering that occurs in some of the timbered spots, but we try to keep as much visual barrier between an existing neighbor and us, and there's going to be setbacks that will be established by the county.”
The company has been eyeing similar developments across the state.
It already operates solar farms in Garrard, Logan and Simpson counties. In 2024, Silicon Ranch requested the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council change nearby Fayette County’s zoning regulations to allow for a solar farm project, kickstarting a debate on where solar can be installed countywide.
Friday, Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton vetoed an ordinance that would have allowed industrial solar on 1,800 acres of rural Fayette County land.
Like the proposal in Fayette County, some Madison County residents are worried the project could encroach on farmland. A change.org petition opposing the development has more than 1,400 signatures as of Monday morning.
“If this land is being consumed for corporate gain, what's left to feed the nation? You have to ask yourself, where do you get your food? It goes beyond the shelves of Walmart, OK? Firsthand, this is where it starts. This affects us,” Hayley Gooch, who wrote the petition, told county officials at Thursday’s public hearing.
Others expressed concerns the development could harm wildlife, worsen spot flooding and make traffic difficult along the narrow roads in the vicinity.
“We live close to the wildlife reserve,” neighbor Annette Williams said. “What's going to happen to the deer, the birds with the fencing? That's a real risk for our area that has to be considered.”
Speakers advocated for strong regulations, including a plan for how the land will be used after the array is decommissioned. Silicon Ranch intends for the solar farm to be active for 40 years, after which it could be sold.
Shannon Rose, whose property is close to a planned electrical substation, has been asking for guarantees on what would happen after the project’s life cycle.
“If they want to get rid of it, the likelihood of something else coming in that is a major development will most likely not be as nice as Silicon Ranch is, even if they uphold their standards that they say they're going to through this,” she said.
In response to those concerns, Silicon Ranch said they’re working with the city on a decommissioning plan.
“I really don't know what the world's going to look like in 40 years, but given energy demand, the likelihood is it will remain in energy production, solar production,” Corney said. “The good news is the panels become so much more efficient over time so it could produce more energy in a smaller footprint.”
Silicon Ranch says it expects to hire 150 to 200 construction workers, and two to five full-time workers once the facility is in operation.
If constructed, the solar facility would interconnect to nearby transmission lines owned by East Kentucky Power Cooperative. It would link to the regional grid, which transmits electricity to much of the Eastern U.S.
Spokespeople for Silicon Ranch and EKPC say they haven’t entered an agreement for the utility to purchase power as of yet. Silicon Ranch says it will generate enough for around 10,000 homes — about a quarter of Richmond.
If approved by the state’s Electric Generation and Transmission Siting Board, project construction is expected to begin in 2028. Silicon Ranch hopes the solar farm to be operational by late 2030.
The Madison County Board of Adjustments is expected to make a final decision on whether to approve the project at its next meeting, Oct. 15.
