Group against local solar farm holds informational open house Tuesday

A 1,500-acre solar farm is being proposed in rural Boone County. A group of residents is opposed to the project for several reasons. Organizers are hosting an informational open house from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday at Cedars Activity Center.

A group of local residents near a proposed solar farm project are coordinating a push to keep the project from getting a special exception from two zoning appeals boards. The Brickyard Solar Project is a proposed 1,500-acre solar farm split between Marion Township and rural Zionsville. It will be owned and operated by a Florida-based company called NextEra and is slated to be a $210 million investment generating more than $50 million in taxes over the next 30 years.

The group will hold an informational open house from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday at Cedars Activity Center, 1383 E. County Road 75 N.

“We’re not against solar farms in the right places,” Dan Brownlee said. Brownlee and his wife Nancy Brownlee, along with nearby resident Andy Grinstead are organizing the opposition and hope to guide others in how to petition against this development.

“This is all pretty new,” Nancy Brownlee said. “The first, large-scale solar farm was installed in 2010.”

She said broken or discarded solar panels may cause environmental concerns as well as being an eyesore. Lebanon resident Victoria Wesseler echoed these concerns by citing North Carolina Senator Paul Newton’s comments about the rash of solar farms built in his state. He said that in 15 years, the state’s waste stream will be hit by a “tidal wave” of millions of spent solar panels. He said these will be considered hazardous materials because of the heavy metals that could leech into the soil.

Brownlee said she visited another NextEra solar farm in Ohio that suffered a hail storm a couple of years ago.

“They still don’t have all the panels fixed,” she said. “They had hundreds of panels that needed to be repaired because they had shattered.”

Nancy Brownlee is also was concerned that the area would not receive any benefit from the electricity generated because the company has contracted to sell the power – a reported 200 megawatts – to NIPSCO in northern Indiana.

In addition to the value of their properties, the three are concerned about many other factors they believe county officials are not considering. If built, the Brickyard Solar project would be the largest solar farm in the Midwest, let alone the state. Grinstead, owner of Grinstead Farms of Whitestown, said people living or wishing to move to the area like the countryside vista.

“Clearly, this would change that,” Grinstead said of the possibility of a sea of solar panels installed very near their homes. “It’s a whole new landscape.”

He also is afraid of losing value.

“Would somebody want to move here as bad as they would if that solar farm were right there?” he said. “It’s a pretty obvious answer.”

Grinstead was approached about leasing his land to NextEra for the next 30 years. He didn’t want to talk about the offer, but said he turned down the proposal.

Since the proposed solar farm would be in two jurisdictions, both the county and Zionsville would need to grant the special exception.

“Their charge is to protect us and to protect our health, safety and well-being,” Nancy Brownlee said of the Board of Zoning Appeals. The Indianapolis Executive Airport has expressed concern about glint and glare affecting pilots in the area. Then there is wildlife who will be restricted by the barbwire fencing surrounding the solar panels.

Grinstead said many area residents have never heard of the project. So one of the goals of next Tuesday’s open house is to educate about the project. Other goals include how to oppose the project.

NextEra hopes to get approval from both the county and Zionsville BZAs to start installing the latest in solar energy panels by this fall with completion by the end of 2022.

CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this story, we incorrectly identified the Ohio solar farm as another NextEra facility, 

the company building the Brickyard Solar project in rural Boone County.

NextEra spokesman Conlan Kennedy said "Our company does not have a facility in Ohio with hundreds of hail-damaged panels. Our production reports don’t indicate the type of outage we would see with hundreds of panels down. Additionally, our operations and maintenance team recently conducted a drone survey of all of our Ohio sites and this issue didn’t surface."