A General Assembly bill proposing to standardize what criteria localities are to use when evaluating applications for new solar farms is making its way through the Senate after narrowly passing the House of Delegates.

Two other solar-related bills that would have established a state review board for energy projects and required host localities to issue a written explanation for denying approval of a solar farm the board had endorsed are not moving forward.

Isle of Wight County officials, who opposed the bills, have been watching the debate with interest. The county has approved 11 solar farms to date, including the 2,200-acre, 240-megawatt Sycamore Cross solar farm in 2024 that would be the county’s largest and span the Isle of Wight-Surry county line at its westernmost edge. Also last year, Isle of Wight supervisors voted to reject the 44-megawatt Moonlight solar farm that would have spanned 231 fenced acres at Burwells Bay and Moonlight roads, and rejected a 3-megawatt solar farm proposed for 23 acres off Old Stage Highway.

House Bill 2438, sponsored by Del. Candi Mundon King, D-Prince William, passed the House 48-46 on Jan. 30 with all “yea” votes coming from Democrats and “nay” votes from Republicans. Three Republicans and three Democrats, including Del. Nadarius Clark, D-Suffolk, who represents part of Isle of Wight County, were listed as not voting, though the record indicates Del. Daniel Marshall, R-Danville, was present and intended to vote “nay.” The bill, which is on the docket for the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor’s Feb. 17 meeting, stipulates ground-mounted solar farms “shall be permitted” on agricultural-zoned land, provided they comply with 12 criteria, including a 150- to 300-foot buffer from the nearest edge of the equipment to the nearest occupied building.

Senate Bill 1190, sponsored by state Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, would have established the “Virginia Energy Facility Review Board” to draft a model ordinance to be adopted by localities and review each locality’s version for compliance with the state’s clean energy policy. It also would have required the board to issue an opinion on a proposed solar farm within 90 days of receiving a developer’s application and required the host locality to issue its final decision regarding any zoning change or conditional use permit within six months of the review board issuing its opinion. It would have allowed developers to appeal a local denial to the locality’s Circuit Court and would have required the locality to state in writing its reasons for denying the application if that denial diverged from the review board’s recommendation.

SB 1190 died in a 20-19 Senate vote on Feb. 3 when Sen. Russet Perry, D-Leesburg, joined Republicans in opposing it. Its companion House Bill 2126 stalled in the House Committee on Labor and Commerce in a 4-1 Jan. 30 vote to table it.

SB 1190 had come as a recommendation from the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation, or CEUR, which voted 7-5 on Jan. 6 to recommend the legislation be drafted. CEUR contends new legislation is needed to meet the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act’s mandate that Dominion Energy transition to 100% carbon-free energy sources by 2045. The body, which consists of 10 legislators and three non-legislator members, came into existence in 2003 from legislation allowing the transition to retail competition among electric utilities like Dominion and had been dormant for nearly six years until being reactivated in 2023 to address rising statewide electricity demand.

Currently, town and city councils and county boards of supervisors have broad discretion in the length of time they take and the criteria they use to evaluate solar farm applications. A multistate coalition of solar, wind and battery storage developers known as the Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition, or MAREC, which has been advising CEUR, says the patchwork of local regulations has resulted in 33 solar farm proposals over the past 18 months being denied or withdrawn across Virginia.