Solar panels

ATLANTA — Runoff from a growing number of giant solar farms polluting rivers and streams in rural South Georgia is becoming a major concern, an official with the state Environmental Protection Division (EPD) said Monday.

Huge solar farms of up to 1,000 acres are being built on the region’s sandy soil, which is particularly vulnerable to erosion of sediment caused by runoff from solar panels, James Cooley, the EPD’s director of division operations, told members of the Georgia House Rural Development Council meeting in Americus.

Local governments, which play a major role in the permitting of construction sites, typically deal with small sites such as Dollar Generals and aren’t used to such large projects, Cooley said.

House lawmakers and other officials attending the meeting on the campus of Southwest Georgia State University were surprised and dismayed by what they heard from Cooley.

“[What] we don’t want to be known for in Georgia is a clean energy state that has caused our rivers to become dirty,” said Jason Shaw, a member of the state Public Service Commission (PSC), Georgia’s energy regulating agency.

At the same time, council members heard other presentations Monday on the value of solar farms both to Georgia landowners and rural communities.

Landowners and local municipalities in Georgia are receiving about $2.9 billion a year in income by leasing land being used for solar farms by Georgia Power alone, said Ryan Sanders, executive director of the Georgia Large-Scale Solar Association.