[PaEN] On December 9, Rush Township Supervisors in Centre County approved the permit for the renewable energy project known as Black Moshannon Solar.
The proposed solar project would generate 265 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 200,000 homes annually.
At the same time, the project is being heralded for utilizing nearly 2,000 acres of toxic mineland, reclaiming otherwise unusable land, and including mineland clean-up as part of the project’s development.
The project’s developers have committed to introducing pollinators and pollinator-friendly ground cover beneath the solar arrays, conducting water quality and soil studies throughout development and operations, and taking steps to enhance the soil by using lime to neutralize mining contamination and encourage vegetation to grow on the site.
The Black Moshannon Solar project is also expected to provide more than $5 million in tax revenue to support the Phillipsburg-Osceola Area School District and more than $700,000 in direct tax payments to Centre County.
