The Northern Virginia Daily
April 1, 2010
Tewalt: Town isn't investor in solar farm
Front Royal unsure if it will
purchase power from the site
By Ben
Orcutt
FRONT ROYAL
-- The town's role in a prospective solar farm at the former
Avtex Fibers Superfund site has apparently gone from potential
investor to interested bystander. "At this
point we're really not involved in it," Mayor Eugene R. Tewalt
said Wednesday. "We're really not involved with it at all. We're
not planning on any financial assistance to the solar field at
all. It's all being done by private enterprise." Tewalt said
the town has not decided on whether to purchase power generated
by the solar farm. "Not at this
point," he said. Tewalt said
the town has spent about $100,000 to review bids that it
solicited when the town was considering the possibility of being
involved in the construction of the solar farm. "Since that
time we've agreed that we don't want to get involved in the
solar fields as far as construction and we don't want to put any
money in," Tewalt said. On Friday,
the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority
voted to approve a contract to allow Standard Energy to build a
solar farm on the Avtex Fibers Superfund site, now known as
Royal Phoenix. The
three-year lease is contingent on being approved by FMC Corp.,
the former site owner, and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, which is overseeing cleanup operations, according to
Jennifer McDonald, executive director of the EDA. McDonald said there are two phases in the lease, one for roughly 19 acres and the second for about 21 acres. The contract also stipulates that within 180 days after its effective date, Standard Energy must employ at least 100 permanent, full-time employees and that the company's assembly plant has to be located with town limits. Vice Mayor
Bret W. Hrbek said at this juncture, the relevant point is not
whether the town purchases power from Standard Energy, but the
fact that the prospect exists that new jobs could be created at
a time when unemployment is high. "That's good
and we should be really concerned and applauding the efforts of
that happening," Hrbek said. "The relevant question is are they
going to have a manufacturing facility that's going to create a
hundred jobs for our local folks and we all should be on board
with that." Councilman
Thomas E. Conkey agreed. "I think
this is a terrific opportunity to bring living-wage jobs to this
town and I look forward to working with [Standard Energy] as
things move forward," Conkey said. However,
Councilman Carson C. Lauder Jr. remained somewhat skeptical. "The
situation's changed a lot and we might have to take a fresh look
in all areas which involves the companies, the town, the whole
situation," Lauder said. In October,
Steve Lamb, the majority shareholder of Standard Solar in Prior plans
called for Greg Horton, owner of Arctic Air Refrigeration in
Front Royal, and Leesburg developer William Lauterbach to
partner on the project under the name of SolAVerde. Lamb, a
graduate of West Point and the Harvard Business School, said
that he and longtime partner Jim Sharman, from the Chicago area,
along with Lauterbach, would be the main principals of the new
company, to be known as Standard Energy, with Horton and Donnie
Poe, the owner of a local construction business, also having
roles in the venture. Horton said
Friday that the reason the contract says Interior Comfort Inc.,
doing business as SolAVerde, is because that is a corporation
that he has had set up for years. Horton's
wife, Elizabeth, is listed as the president and Horton is listed
as the director. SolAVerde is the same as Standard Energy,
Horton added. Horton said
the plan calls for a solar panel assembly plant to be located on
adjacent property at |