Energix Renewables hosted a “town hall” type meeting last Wednesday at the VFW Post in Albany.
The reason for the public gathering was to inform the public of an upcoming project in the works to install solar panels on 833 acres on the top of the mountain near Duvall Valley.
According to Director of Project Development Shawn Hershberger, the meeting is mainly to inform the public of how the process to install the solar panels works.
Energix Renewables is a company based in Arlington, Virginia.
“This is our first project in Kentucky,” Hershberger said. “We will hire contractors as local as we can.”
The construction part of the solar panel process will take anywhere from 12 to 18 months.
“It has a lot of potential for local impact and not only for that 18 month period, but if people come to work on this panel project, then that’s a marketable skill they’ve learned,” Hershberger said. “This is probably three years from being finished.”
Although the installation of the panels could bring jobs to Clinton County for a short time, and not to mention the tax revenue the company will have to pay to the county, Clinton County won’t see any benefit of the byproduct the panels will produce.
The electricity gathered from the solar panels will be sold to a electricity company and that electricity will be sold to customers.
With everything that was discussed Wednesday night at the public town hall meeting, there was some opposition present, but District Judge Scarlett Latham wants landowners to be informed of everything that goes into installing solar panels in Clinton County.
“I respect any landowner’s right to do what they want with their own property and I am looking at it from the angle of hoping they are fully informed about the details when they are considering whether or not to commit their land to something, which could forever change the character of their land,” Latham said. “I hope that they are doing their own research and not just taking everything at face value that is being presented to them.”
Latham expressed one concern she had with the solar panels, which is what happens when the solar panels have outlived their use?
“One major concern I personally would have if I were to be approached about my own property, would be a situation where a landowner could be left holding the bag with deteriorating panels on their property after the panels life span had ended,” Latham said. “Bonds have to be renewed and companies can go out of business or go bankrupt and be unable to fulfill their contractual obligations. It happens all the time in other circumstances. What would happen to the environment and the groundwater if hypothetically there is no company around to meet their contractual obligations in twenty years and the bonding company has not been paid or refuses to honor the bond for some reason?”
Once the solar panels have reached their expiration date, Latham asks what happens next?
“So in a nutshell my concerns are the destruction of the environment and overall safety and appearance of our community, how to really safeguard and guarantee that any ‘decommissioning’ plan would be properly carried out years from now if circumstances change in such a way that the company is no longer able or willing to meet their obligations,” Latham said.
Latham expressed that she is neither for nor against the use of solar panels, because she believes it could have an impact on finding alternative energy sources.
“I just hope that when talking about issues that affect land values and the environment, now and in the future, everyone will make wise decisions and consider the possible future implications,” Latham said.

Shawn Hershberger, Director of Project Development for Energix Renewables, pointed out some details on the location of where the solar panels would be installed on Wednesday at the VFW during the “town hall” type meeting.