Eric Crowgey tried to work with a solar energy company on his farm in Wythe County, Virginia, but it hasn’t gone as planned.
Recently, members of both the Washington County Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission went there to learn more.
Crowgey signed a lease agreement with an American-owned company in 2017, and solar panels were installed in 2022 across most of his 154-acre farm near the Pepsi plant at the edge of Wytheville.
The original company sold the operation then it was merged and is now operated out of Israel, he said.
“The salesperson that’s selling you this can of goods this year may not necessarily be the same person that’s going to be there in five years,” Crowgey said.
Crowgey signed up to lease his land, share in royalties and have a place to graze his sheep around the solar panels.
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“We were going to keep it in agriculture and a clean energy project,” said Crowgey, a former member of the Wythe County Planning Commission.
But the company, Caden Energix, has never paid the royalty and never allowed his sheep on the land since the solar power was turned on in 2022, Crowgey said.
“They are paying the lease,” Crowgey said. The lease runs for 30 years.
“Would I do it again? No,” Crowgey said. “They took the top soil and buried it and left me with a strip mine.”
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has fined this company for violations at this operation and others, said Matt Hankins, the deputy county administrator for Wythe County.
Also, instead of being in compliance with environmental laws, the company has instead chosen to pay fines, according to both Hankins and Crowgey.
“We do not have a solar ordinance,” Hankins said.
Crowgey has shared his experiences with municipal leaders in multiple counties, including Washington County, where a large-scale solar energy project has been proposed for the Wyndale area.
Members of the Washington County Board of Supervisors visited Crowgey’s property in May.
“We were disappointed to know that the project ran into some troubles after the project was first developed and then sold to another operator,” said Washington County Board of Supervisors Chairman Mike Rush. “That resulted in problems, that the owner paid the fines rather than comply with the conditions of the contracts.”
Washington County Planning Commission members also went to Crowgey’s site earlier this month.
“He didn’t approach us. We approached him,” said Commissioner Dulcie Mumpower.
“I did not like it,” Mumpower added. “I thought it looked awful. It had quite a bit of runoff — just not a good situation.”
Supervisor Phil McCall asked a Catalyst Energy official about the Wythe situation during a May meeting in Abingdon. In response, Catalyst President Steve Malnight said such an example was “By far the exception,” in the growing field of solar energy.
Twitter: @DMcGeeBHC