Telegraph Road Solar seeks threshold ruling on adjacency; staff seeks show-cause process for adjacent projects

Staff presented the Telegraph Road Solar 1 LLC request and recommended treating parcels separated only by a roadway as adjacent for colocation analysis under PUA §7-306.2(d)(13), concluding Telegraph Road should be treated as the senior-priority project and allowed to proceed but that North Telegraph and Sand Hill Solar should be directed to show cause within 45 days or submit a joint compliance plan demonstrating agrivoltaics or 75% LMI aggregation.

Telegraph Road's counsel, Eric Wallace, urged the commission to apply the same logic used in the commission's earlier Ameresco decision and treat a public right-of-way as breaking adjacency. "If there is a public right of way that separates the parcel, then they're not collocated," Wallace argued, saying a clear threshold ruling would let Telegraph Road proceed with financing and construction without an abrupt late-stage redesign. He suggested a longer, 90-day window if the commission orders negotiation among colocated developers.

Commissioners discussed whether the pilot-program definition that counts parcels across a road as adjacent should carry forward, whether the commission or the General Assembly must set a clearer standard (distance- or sight-line-based), and the risk of creating a precedent that undermines statutory colocation limits. Staff signaled willingness to post queue/registry information publicly to reduce surprises; the commission took the matter under advisement for further deliberation and possible rulemaking.