[THIS STORY has been updated to include a PSC order issued Monday.]
dbeard@dominionpost.com
MORGANTOWN – The 1,154-acre Brandonville Solar project could see PSC approval in less than two months.
An initial PSC staff memo posted Friday offered no objections to the company’s application for a siting certificate filed Oct. 6 and posed no questions. Staff agreed with a Brandonville Solar request to waive a requirement for the company to file transmission support tower location and size information since there will be no towers built for the project.
If the PSC grants the waiver, staff said, it finds that the company’s application is substantially complete. Staff memos on various utility requests often point out gaps in the application filings and raise concerns and questions.
The PSC quickly agreed with staff. On Monday, the commission waived the requirement and said that the company’s application is substantially complete.
Brandonville Solar had asked the PSC to adopt a procedural schedule, including public hearings, and enter an order granting the project siting certificate within 150 days.
But the PSC accelerated that timeline. In its Monday order, it ordered Brandonville Solar to publish a notice of filing in one Preston County newspaper.
“In the absence of substantial protest received within 30 days of publication,” the PSC said, “the commission may waive a formal hearing and grant the application based on commission review of the evidence submitted with the application.
As Brandonville Solar spelled out in its Oct. 6 filing, the 100 megawatt solar project would sit on 1,154 acres between Glade Run and Big Sandy Creek, about one mile northwest of Brandonville.
Brandonville Solar is a subsidiary of Enel North America, part of Enel Group, a sustainable energy company headquartered in Andover, Mass. It has more than 850 employees and maintains a portfolio of around 12 gigawatts of projects in operation across nine U.S. states and one Canadian province. Its renewables division in the U.S. and Canada operates as Enel Green Power North America.
Brandonville Solar estimates the project will cost more than $174 million. It will connect with an existing FirstEnergy transmission line in the area. There will be no transmission towers; and no battery storage system at this time.
The company says, “The project represents an investment in excess of $44 million in Preston County. It will produce approximately 100 MW of emission-free energy and is expected to generate substantial increases in economic output, local earnings, and property taxes in Preston County and the state, as well as 29 direct and 31 indirect jobs during its construction period.”
Brandonville Solar says the project footprint consists of three solar energy leases totaling 752 acres and a Purchase Option Agreement describing about 402 acres. The PV solar modules and other project components require about 469 acres of land within the overall project boundary of about 1,154 acres.
The project is anticipated to be operational by Dec. 31, 2027, with construction starting on Dec. 2, 2026, the company says.
