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Con Edison Development Construction Manager Jonathan Long updates Halifax County Board of Supervisors on Water Strider, an 80 megawatt solar facility on Jenny’s Ruff Trail when they met Monday evening.
County Administrator Scott Simpson (center) recognizes Halifax County Animal Control Chief Warden Todd Moser (left) and Officer Aundrea Claughton for receiving the 2019 Humane Law Enforcement Awards for assisting in transporting animals that were rescued from an animal park in Frederick County
Con Edison Development Construction Manager Jonathan Long updates Halifax County Board of Supervisors on Water Strider, an 80 megawatt solar facility on Jenny’s Ruff Trail when they met Monday evening.
Water Strider, an 80 megawatt solar facility on Jenny’s Ruff Trail, is on its way to becoming the first completed solar facility in Halifax County in the spring, according to Con Edison Development Construction Manager Jonathan Long.
He gave an update on the facility to Halifax County Board of Supervisors when they met Monday evening saying once it’s completed, it will be their largest asset on the East Coast, and the company is interested in developing additional solar projects under the Virginia Shared Solar Program.
First approved in May 2018, the facility is set to encompass 871 acres of solar project area with 11 acres for the substation and interconnecting switchyard, 674 acres is where the ground disturbance exists and 186 undistributed areas for setbacks, wildlife corridors, screening vegetation, land access and wetlands.
Currently, their substation is completed and 87% of the grading is complete along with 65% or 4.5 miles of the 7 miles of road has been completed.
“We were planning on being finished by the end of this year but between COVID and everything else, it’s tough for anything so we slowed it down. We’re going to be wrapping it up next April,” said Long.
With the Virginia Shared Solar Program, Long said Con Edison is interested in developing additional solar projects and developing and constructing assets under this program would align with the infrastructure currently being put in place for the Water Strider project.
Con Ed and municipalities would benefit from the program’s bill credits, according to Long, and the shared solar program is estimated to begin sometime between mid-2021 and 2023.
The 2020 Virginia General Assembly passed the “Shared Solar and Multi-Family Shared Solar” programs.
“We’re looking at different assets that might be available and different things for development,” said Long.
Former supervisor J. T. Davis also spoke regarding the Virginia Shared Solar Program.
“Just to make sure we don’t get any misconception, this is a utility scale project. What John is talking about – as they have a footprint in Halifax County, they want to expand that footprint into other projects. These other projects though will not exceed 5 megawatts while this one is 80. It’s going to take a lot less land, 25 to 45 acres. Another distinct difference is that the tower that’s generated would go to what they call a community project where energy is exported, so to speak. Here you could be a member and participate in these community projects and it would lower your bill, with the priority first in line lower income,” said Davis.
Chairman Hubert Pannell asked how much could a bill be lowered.
Davis said, “somewhere in the 10% plus.”
Supervisors also received an update on the status of capital projects performed at Halifax County Public School facilities previously approved by the board of supervisors and school board utilizing fiscal year 2020 carryover funds.
Superintendent Dr. Mark Lineburg said, “It’s a really great thing… it’s saved us some money in the days ahead. The key thing is money well spent, and we appreciate you working with us on this.”
Director of operations and maintenance Steve Brumfield also called the funding a “huge help.”
Without the use of the carryover funds, he said, “we wouldn’t have been able to jump on these projects as soon as we could.”
He said 80 to 85% of the proposed projects had been complete including replacing the intercom at Halifax County Middle School for $50,500 and replacing all the fire alarm panels at every elementary school that were obsolete for a cost of $66,200.
They also were able to paint the entire interior and exterior front entrance along with all exterior doors at Scottsburg Elementary and replaced all baseboard molding at the elementary school for $76,580.
A big-ticket item that is being handled with carryover funds is replacing the HVAC system at Sydnor Jennings Elemtnary School.
The operations and maintenance director also said five elementary schools have the original heating and cooling units from the 1960s, and he said upgrading to a VRF (variable refrigerate flow) HVAC System is a low-cost energy-efficient upgrade.
Brumfield said they’re in the bidding stage for that project and bids are to be in by Monday.
He said two companies, Comfort Systems and Elliott Electric, participated in the pre-meeting, and he said companies had to participate in the pre-meeting in order to be considered.
Other projects include curtain replacement at Scottsburg Elementary and Meadville Elementary, athletic field/court maintenance, roof repair at Clays Mill and the middle school, furniture, replacement of work vans and trucks and replacement of maintenance vehicles.
With CARES funding, the school system was able to purchase custodial equipment, Bio Polar Ionization devices, water fountain bottle filler, sanitization supplies, nurse supplies and technology.
So far, they’ve spent $307,459.82 of the $931,700 carryover funds, and ED-1 supervisor Ricky Short asked what their plans were for any leftover funds.
Brumfield said he was waiting to see what was going to happen with the bids for the HVAC systems.
The superintendent also said funding would return to the capital improvement plan.
“We’ll always circle back to that when we have extra funding that’s designated for capital, and I’ll always defer to Steve on picking that priority for us,” said Lineburg.
County Administrator Scott Simpson (center) recognizes Halifax County Animal Control Chief Warden Todd Moser (left) and Officer Aundrea Claughton for receiving the 2019 Humane Law Enforcement Awards for assisting in transporting animals that were rescued from an animal park in Frederick County
Ashley Hodge/Gazette-Virginian
Supervisors also completed the following:
Heard citizen comments from James Dixon of Clover who expressed concern of unkempt dumpsters on Dryburg Road where he recently picked up five bags of trash, and asked that either the boxes be removed or when dumpsters are emptied by the garbage man, to pick up around the boxes.
Heard citizen comments from Dr. Brenda Waller of Nathalie who wanted to confirm an email that was sent to all supervisors on Friday, and she said she is awaiting a response from supervisors and the industrial development authority regarding the Daystrom building;
Recognized Halifax County Animal Control Chief Warden Todd Moser and Officer Aundrea Claughton for receiving the 2019 Humane Law Enforcement Award for assisting in transporting animals that were rescued from an animal park in Frederick County;
Held a public hearing in which no one spoke on amending their fiscal year 2021 budget and accepted and appropriated $2,337,924 in CARES funding to Halifax County Public Schools;
Adopted a fiscal year 2021-2022 budget calendar with the first finance committee work session held on Jan. 14 with budget requests for the county due to director of finance Stephanie Jackson on Jan. 15 followed by a Feb. 1 work session with the board of supervisors;
Heard a COVID-19 update from chairman Hubert Pannel who provided case numbers for Halifax County, surrounding areas, Virginia and the United States before urging Halifax County citizens to wear their masks, practice social distancing and to wash their hands, and to encourage others to do so as well in a kind way;
Appointed vice chairman Garland Ricketts, chairman of the buildings and grounds committee Stanley Brandon and the county administrator as a review team to review engineering term contracts and make a recommendation to the full board; and
Approved the award of four tourism related business grants totaling $202,869 to Bistro 1888, The Prizery, World of Sports and Blue Chip Racing Resorts, LLC at Virginia International Raceway to supplement pandemic expenses and recovery.
