New solar farm regulations require developers in Virginia to mitigate the impact of their projects on prime farmland in certain cases.
Effective in June, the rules apply to new solar projects that produce less than 150 megawatts of electricity and disturb more than 10 acres of prime soil. Those projects will have to provide a perpetual conservation easement equal in size to the area of disturbed farmland.
Some Hampton Roads farmers, though, question whether the rules will have the intended outcomes…