Barren County solar farm proposal widely opposed at public hearing
Published 6:00 am Thursday, July 17, 2025
DAVID MAMARIL HOROWITZ
david.horowitz@bgdailynews.com
GLASGOW — More than 60 people squeezed into a room and trailed out the door in a Tuesday public hearing for a controversial solar electric project that would span 2,259 acres across Barren County.
The utility-scale, 100-megawatt project, called Wood Duck Solar, is proposed for 8230 New Bowling Green Road and led by the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company Geenex. At least 17 people delivered oral public comments at the hearing, the vast majority opposing the project.
The seven-member Kentucky State Board of Electric Generation and Transmission Siting Board — whose approval is required for the project, given its generating capacity — includes the three commissioners who make up the state Public Service Commission.
Since Barren County has essentially no applicable zoning regulations, local government cannot stop the project. Tuesday’s hearing was intended to inform the state PSC commissioners with local public input; several Barren County Fiscal Court commissioners and Barren County Judge-Executive Jamie Bewley Byrd also showed up to hear comments.
A formal project hearing is set for Oct. 2 at the PSC in Frankfort, and a decision is required by Nov. 14.
Geenex expects the project to generate electricity that’d serve about 15,000 homes’ electric needs annually. It aims to create sustainable energy while boosting the economy by numerous millions of dollars across Barren County and the state, according to Geenex.
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Concerns among project opponents — among them, Mammoth Cave advocates, area property owners, farmers and Amish community members — included property value reductions, a removal of farmland, potential project toxins, a threat to local wildlife that feeds families, ramifications if storms destroy the panels, project decommissioning details, glare issues, road problems and an alleged lack of transparency.
Paula Pedigo, who’s staunchly opposed the project, brought a stack of 52 letters asking the county judge to publicly oppose the project. She told the Daily News that community members have lacked the opportunity to ask questions or submit input before the project was approved by Planning and Zoning.
“That’s part of why you’re seeing such a tremendous outpouring in response to the project,” she told the Daily News. “Folks are outraged.”
Michelle Snyder expressed concern that the panels would catch on fire, pointing to fires at a solar project in Eagle Point, Oregon. A solar farm there had two grass fires in two months last year, both caused by overheated electronic panels, the area’s Fire District 3 reportedly stated in a release.
Should panels in the proposed Wood Duck project catch fire, Snyder said, it would cause dripping directly into the Mammoth Cave watershed and poison it. She referenced an April 15 letter from Mammoth Cave National Park Superintendent Barclay Trimble to the Kentucky Public Service Commission outlining park concerns.
Park representatives previously told the Daily News that because the panels are proposed for the park’s drainage basin, leaked chemicals may pollute groundwater and harm 160 species of animals relying on the cave system.
Margie Dawsey, reading from a statement signed by members of the Old Order Amish congregation of Park City, said the panels would completely surround their home, and they worry about chemicals.
“We are concerned with the health of our children and of ourselves … ,” she said.
She added that if chain-link fences surround their farm, it would prevent family members from sustaining themselves during deer season in November — “taking good, healthy God-given food out of the mouths of our children.”
She also described the blessings of living in their natural environment, stating that the project would mean “a way of life will be forever gone.”
Tiffany Thompson, who owns a swathe of land adjacent to the property, spoke in opposition, particularly concerning what she and others have described as a scattered-site project model. This, she said, “affects a vastly greater number of adjacent farmers and landowners than other projects, as well as the community impacts.
I would implore the PSC to consider this in their decision-making on this particular solar energy project, and deny this company the access they want that will destroy our valuable farmland for generation after generation to come, if this land is ever able to be farmed again.”
Project supporters highlighted the jobs the project would create and the energy and taxes it would bring to the region. Lonnie Calvert, from Louisville, said he spoke on behalf of Laborers International Union of North America Local 1392 out of Owensboro as he expressed support for the project.
Most of all, he spotlighted jobs: Temporary work is the nature of construction, he said, as people constantly work on one job site and then move to the next.
“These folks will take these skills that they learn on this project, and they’re transferable skills where they can stay in this community and work on other union projects out of this local union’s jurisdiction and turn around and have a permanent career path, not just a temporary job,” he said.
Darrell Burks, born and raised in Barren County, said he saw the county decades ago undergo a period without prosperity, and has since seen it prosper and grow.
When a business considers launching in a county, it considers what utility resources are afforded, he said, adding that if a county cannot provide those resources, a business “will walk out of the first meeting.”
He expressed concern that the community shouldn’t depend solely on limited supplies of gas and coal.
“We’ve got to use alternative sources,” he said. “We’ve got the one best source that God has ever created, and that’s our universe. We have the sun. Doesn’t cost you or I one penny. By being able to harvest the sun, we can convert that energy into a usable source that I daresay every one of us in this meeting uses.”
Oral public comments for the Oct. 2 formal hearing can be offered prior to the start of the hearing, with instructions to be available on the PSC website. Public comments can also be made in writing, with the case number 2024-00337 in the email subject line and sent to psc.comment@ky.gov with a person’s full name and address of residence in the body of the email.
