Industrial Solar

Silicon Ranch, a Nashville-based and privately-owned solar company, has proposed a Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment (ZOTA) that would permit industrial solar development throughout Lexington-Fayette County, including in the Agricultural-Rural zone.

• Details: The ZOTA was proposed to accommodate an approximately 800-acre solar farm off Haley Road in the Agricultural-Rural zone, made up of multiple tracts of land.
• Need-to-know: This ZOTA change would apply county-wide, allowing for more developments of this type in the Agricultural-Rural zone.
• Fact: In 2018, Shell became the largest shareholder in Silicon Ranch.

View Silicon Ranch’s Website

View Silicon Ranch Project Photos

This is just a small portion of the 800 acres proposed for development. — Photo by Fayette Alliance

Update | March, 2026

On Tuesday, March 10, the General Government & Planning Committee met to discuss a proposed policy change that would allow for the development of large-scale solar energy systems in the Agricultural-Rural and Agricultural-Urban areas of Lexington-Fayette County.

• The Committee voted to report out this recommendation to the full Council at the Tuesday, April 28th, 2026 Council Work Session.

• What this means: The recommendations of the Solar Work Group for this county-wide zoning change will move out of Committee without additional public or stakeholder engagement to the full Council.

• Yes, but: There are still several steps in the approval process for this policy recommendation and there will be opportunities to make your voice heard.

The image below outlines how each member of the General Government & Planning Committee voted — yes meaning they want to move this policy change forward out of Committee, and no meaning they do not approve moving the recommendation out of Committee at this time.

• Consider: If you see your Councilmember highlighted in green, now is probably a good time to contact them.

Solar Workgroup Details

Prior to this decision, a solar workgroup was formed consisting of only four Councilmembers: Councilmember Sheehan, District 5; Councilmember Sevigny, District 10; Councilmember Morton, District 1; Councilmember Boone, District 12.

• Important: The workgroup was closed to the public and Fayette Alliance was not included in the discussions.

Meeting notes from the workgroup sessions provide insight into which community groups were invited to the meeting for stakeholder engagement, and which groups were not.

The following is a list of groups who were invited to meeting discussions:

• LiUNA!, the local labor union chapter
• Fayette County Conservation District

• Kentucky Sheep & Wool Producers Association

Fayette Alliance believes it is important to note that:

• No local organizations representing farmers or farmworkers in Fayette County were invited, like Fayette County Farm Bureau.
• No representative from the USDA National Resource Conservation Service or UK Extension were invited (both the Fayette County Conservation District and the Rural Land Management Board rely on this organization for soil recommendations/expertise.
• No representative of an active producer/operator of  the top 3 agricultural products (horses, cattle, and crops) in Fayette County were invited.

After each meeting, a brief synopsis was made available on the Engage Lexington website, and summaries indicate that the group did speak with national and state organizations like American Farmland Trust and the Kentucky Resources Council.

• Best practices from these organizations do not recommend siting large-scale solar facilities on prime farmland or soils of statewide significance.
• This point was omitted from the findings outlined in the GGP solar presentation notes.

In its Smart Solar Recommendations for local governments, American Farmland Trust specifically recommends to “prioritize solar siting on the built environment, contaminated land, and other land not well-suited for farming…”.

• American Farmland Trust also states one of the first steps is to invest in research to identify priority sites for solar in a local area. Furthermore, they recommend including USDA NCRS representatives and other land conservation representatives in the conversation from the start.

The Ohio Valley Institute was included as a stakeholder but how they contributed to the conversation is unclear.

The findings of the group summarized are summarized in three categories for the upcoming General Government and Planning Committee — Power Generation & the Grid, Environmental, and Economy & Jobs — are vague considering the immense amount of information that exists on each of these topics, as clearly outlined in our position statement.

Next Steps

• Step 1 | The Solar Workgroup’s policy recommendations will be sent to the Rural Land Management Board and the Environmental Commission, who are being asked to provide feedback before the Council receives a report out at the 4/28 Work Session.

• Step 2 | The policy proposal will be reported out to the full Council on Tuesday, April 28 at the Council Work Session.

• Step 3 | If this proposal receives a first and second reading by Council at the end of April and early May, the recommendations will move forward to the Planning Commission for review. From the date of the second reading of the Council, the Planning Commission has 60 days to hold a public hearing and evaluate the recommendations.

• Step 4 | The Planning Commission’s approved version of recommendations will then come back to Council for a final vote on this proposed policy change.

Fayette Alliance will be following this issue closely and keeping you updated every step of the way.

Our Thoughts

Despite the original intent of some Councilmembers to expedite this policy discussion, we are glad to report that this policy proposal will follow the normal time frame to be forwarded to the Planning Commission.

Fayette Alliance remains disappointed with how the Solar Workgroup was handled, specifically regarding the lack of stakeholder engagement during the meetings or the opportunity to engage with the proposed findings of the group in a format that was not a public hearing, as is often done for important, controversial policy proposals.

• Local agricultural stakeholders were excluded from the workgroup, the workgroup meetings were closed to the public, and there was not adequate documentation of who was invited to these meetings or why in the summaries that were made available to the public.

The community should have the opportunity to participate in important policy discussions that impact not only our farmland, but also how Lexington-Fayette County uses its land for decades into the future.

• This has not been the case on this important issue.

Now that this policy proposal is moving forward in this manner, stakeholder engagement is limited to three minutes of public comment per person.

• Consider: This limited engagement opportunity does not allow for actual discussion or education on key issues. Large-scale solar development has the potential to impact thousands of acres of prime farmland and change the landscape of Lexington-Fayette County for decades. The community deserves better.

The first opportunity for public comment will be on Tuesday, April 28th at 3 p.m. at the Council Work Session in Council Chambers.

We will continue to keep you updated as this policy proposal moves through city hall.

Position Statement

Read Our Solar Energy Systems Position Statement

About the Soil

The United States Department of Agriculture defines “Prime Farmland” as such:

“Land that has the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for producing food. It has the combination of soil properties, growing season, and moisture supply needed to produce sustained high yields of crops economically if it is treated and managed according to acceptable farming methods.”

Using the USDA’s Web Soil Survey map, we attempted to determine approximately how much of the land proposed for solar development was categorized as “Prime Farmland.”

Process

1. We took a map of Lexington-Fayette County’s PDR-protected farms.
2. We overlaid maps of the proposed solar development sites.
3. We then used those maps to identify the soil quality of the proposed areas.

By our calculations, approximately 98.06% of the soil proposed for solar farming is considered “Prime Farmland” or of “statewide significance” by the United States Department of Agriculture.

• Need-to-know: None of the proposed acreage is used for equine operations.
• Consider: The soil that’s at risk is rich, fertile, and irreplaceable; capable of producing food for generations to come.

Full Details

We compiled our research and other soil-related information into short, easy-to-read PDF packets — one each for the proposed industrial solar projects. The studies include:

• maps of the proposed solar sites
• soil maps of the land proposed for development
• breakdowns of the soil types, including acreage and classification
• and more.

Click the buttons below to explore each soil study in detail.

Soil Study: East Kentucky Power Cooperative

Soil Study: Silicon Ranch

Solar Spotlight

• Lexington, KY | The Locust Trace Agri-science Campus is a public school in Lexington-Fayette County specializing in the education of Agriculture Engineering, Animal Science, Equine Studies, Food Science, and Pre-Veterinary Studies. The 70,000-sqft. campus was designed to produce more energy than it consumes annually, making it a net-zero school within the Fayette County Public School system.
• Denver, CO | The Denver Public School (DPS) system is committed to reducing its overall greenhouse gas emissions by at least 90% of the emissions that existed in 2010 by 2050. DPS even has its own Sustainability Department to help achieve this goal. Solar panels have been installed on the rooftops of various DPS buildings throughout the city, and solar carports have been installed in parking lots. The carport panels were constructed in partnership with the City and County of Denver and will provide bill credits to DPS families who need relief on their energy bills.
• Arizona State University | ASU’s comprehensive solar program produces over 53MWdc of energy — enough to power approximately 30,000 single-family homes. The university utilizes both on-site and off-site solar installations to generate this energy. The on-site component of its solar initiative extends to four different campuses and the ASU Research Park, totaling approximately 80,000 solar panels.
• Rutgers University | Rutgers University has installed solar panels in 16 different parking lots across its facilities. These multifunctional installments generate approximately 3% of the university’s total energy consumption, and also provide much-needed shade to faculty, staff, and students in the summer months. Clemson University and Michigan State University have begun construction of similar projects on their campuses. complete a similar project on its campus.
• Santa Cruz, CA | This California city incentivizes its commercial businesses to invest in solar through rebates, free energy audits, and a city-wide Green Business Certification program.
  • It’s important to note that Lexington incentivizes residential solar investment through its Solarize Lexington program. However, commercial businesses often have more land and square footage to accommodate solar infrastructure.
• San Antonio, TX | Last year, in September of 2023, the city of San Antonio, Texas allocated $30 million to construct solar panels on 42 different city-owned properties. Solar panels will be installed on rooftops, in parking lots, and in city parks to create shade canopies for residents. In total, this project will offset an estimated 11% of the City’s electricity consumption from its buildings.
• Evansville, IN | Evansville, Indiana Regional Airport has installed solar canopies throughout its parking. This solar installment is the Midwest’s largest airport solar canopy, and the second largest in the US. This initiative generates enough energy to offset 50% of the airport’s power.
• Ubiquitous Energy | This US-based company has invented a thin coating that turns windows into transparent solar panels. The company estimated that utilizing this new coating would be able to provide approximately 30% of a building’s energy needs.
• The Netherlands | In 2018, the Netherlands built solar bike paths spanning 1,000 square meters. These are not simply bike paths with solar panels placed alongside, rather, the paths themselves contain solar cells that are protected by a multilayer of resin, and the electrical architecture has been designed to reduce the amount of wiring.
• Belgium | A two-mile-long rail tunnel has been outfitted with 16,000 solar panels in Belgium, providing enough energy to power all of the trains in the country for one full day.
• India | The Cochin International Airport in India is the world’s first airport fully powered by solar energy, winning the “Champions of the Earth” award instituted by the United Nations in 2018. To achieve this, the airport utilizes 46,150 solar panels laid across 45 acres near its cargo complex.

Press and Media

WEKU | May 23, 2024

Forward Kentucky | May 23, 2024

FOX56 | Solar Farm Info Session | July 9, 2024

WEKU | Solar Farm Info Session | July 9, 2024

WKYT | Solar Farm Info Session | July 9, 2024

FOX 56 | Advocacy Efforts | September 3, 2024