NORTHFIELD — After requesting updated stormwater data from BlueWave Solar that pertains to a solar array being proposed for Pine Meadow Road, the Planning Board considered six scenarios that could occur at the proposed site depending on the type of farming used and the type of soil present.
BlueWave Solar’s proposal calls for a 4,316-panel solar array within a fenced-in area, and while the company currently does not have a farming contract executed, the proposal calls for a local partner. BlueWave Solar had previously gained approval in 2021 to construct a three-array, 26,000-panel, 10.9-megawatt project on the same road.
On Wednesday night, Richard Riccio of Field Engineering outlined the six most likely scenarios at the property. Scenarios 1 and 2 involve the current plan for farming at the array, which would include both row crops and a meadow/hayfield. The difference between these two scenarios is the type of hydrologic soil that would be present.
Scenario 1 maps out what the array would look like with Type B soil, a type of soil that has “moderate infiltration rates when thoroughly wetted,” meaning that much of the water at the site would be absorbed by the earth, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture. Type D soil, on the other hand, is soil that has the lowest amount of water intake, which would increase the curve number. The higher the curve number, the higher the water flow.
Scenarios 3 and 4 follow the same pattern, with Scenario 3 using Type B soil and Scenario 4 using Type D. However, these two scenarios map out how the array would function with just row crops at the site. Scenarios 5 and 6, meanwhile, are simulations of what the array would look like if the farmer used the area for hayfields only, with Scenario 5 referencing Type B soil and Scenario 6 referencing Type D.
Town Counsel Jeffrey Blake said he was trying to understand all of the scenarios that Riccio presented, and clarified that meadows/hayfields have the lowest curve number, while row crops have the highest curve number.
Blake also mentioned that he was “not sure we have the ability to control what’s outside of the fence.” Riccio said this project is built upon the fact that Northfield is a right-to-farm community, and that BlueWave Solar can’t control if there are row crops outside the fence.
Scott Horsley, an expert who has 30 years of experience in water resource management and founded Horsley Consulting, asked Riccio if he had run any scenarios that “maybe aren’t necessarily realistic,” to which Riccio responded that the simulations ran were the ones that he presented. Planning Board members then asked if it would have made sense to model for the absolute worst-case scenario.
Subsequently, members requested that more scenarios be considered, with BlueWave Solar Project Director Mike Zhe saying that the Planning Board could include more conditions if it were to approve the special permit for the solar array. Tad Heuer, legal counsel for BlueWave Solar, noted that the easiest way to address the concerns of the scenarios would be to show BlueWave Solar a condition. He referenced the condition the board had previously requested involving grazing within the hayfield and said the company could apply “an identical condition with row crops.”
As the proposal calls for a local farmer to use the site for agricultural purposes, Planning Board member Joe Graveline asked if BlueWave Solar has “or is planning to have farming infrastructure in Northfield” in case the company is unable to find a local farmer to partner with. However, Planning Board Chair Margaret “Meg” Riordan reminded Graveline that the board can only discuss floodplain-related issues, as was advised by town counsel following a Land Court decision that annulled the Planning Board’s unanimous 2024 vote denying BlueWave Solar a special permit. Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 40A, Section 3 lays out strict requirements preventing the prohibition or unreasonable regulation of solar energy systems “except where necessary to protect the public health, safety or welfare.”
The Planning Board opted to keep the public hearing open, as it would like to have the option to continue discussion with BlueWave Solar if more questions arise before its next meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m.
