Since last fall, the focus of the Industrial Solar industry’s efforts has been in Frankfort – where developers have attempted to change state law to allow them to bypass local processes to examine industrial solar proposals, such as Planning & Zoning and Fiscal Court review.
With the recent failure of their proposed legislation, the out-of-state and foreign-owned solar developers with projects in Clark County have turned their attention back locally.
Geenex Solar
Geenex Solar – a foreign limited liability company – has recently hired a local Winchester resident as its representative.
That person has been contacting influential members of the community in an attempt to secure support for Geenex’s plans to site industrial solar facilities on thousands of acres of prime farmland in Clark County.
While many local citizens think that the solar issue is over, it’s not. The developers’ actions clearly show that they intend to make a big push in the coming weeks and months to get their projects approved.
Center 4 Energy Education
On April 25th, the Center for Energy Education, an organization founded and funded by Geenex, held a virtual workshop on utility solar fire safety aimed at our local Fire & EMS personnel.
This event was advertised on a Chamber of Commerce email blast.
We support our brave men and women in uniform. Putting them in the middle of this debate and attempting to use them to advance a for-profit, industrial solar proposal is inappropriate.
Land & Liberty Coalition
The last few weeks have also seen the emergence of the Land & Liberty Coalition and its attempt to intervene in favor of industrial solar.
The Land & Liberty Coalition is a Michigan-based group which advocates for property owner’s rights in conjunction with industrial-scale renewable energy proposals .
In an interview with Tim Smith on WWKY’s Mornings on Main, their representative stated: “We’re very new in Kentucky. We saw the opportunity arise to come out and make sure these projects don’t get held up. We want to see these projects in Kentucky be successful –that way the key stakeholders involved have the opportunity to make some money.”
Our response: We are all key stakeholders in the future of our community.
Industrial solar benefits a few, at the expense of many. It results in very few long-term jobs and relatively little tax revenue while undermining what makes our community special… our world-class Bluegrass farmland.
Why should Clark County sacrifice its identity so that out-of-state and foreign solar speculators can reap millions and leave us to deal with the fallout?
#ProtectClark
