6,000 acre Hinds County solar farm can proceed, appeals court rules

A large solar power project that would take up close to 6,000 acres near Bolton can move forward, the Mississippi Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday, over two years after Hinds County officials initially greenlit the facility.

“Soul City Solar,” an idea brought to the area by Virginia-based company Apex Clean Energy, drew pushback in 2024 from nearby residents who were worried about what a massive solar facility would do to the area’s natural ecosystem. The company agreed to lease land for the project from Gaddis Farms.

Despite the loud protests, the Hinds County Board of Supervisors approved the application with a 3-2 vote in June, 2024.

One of the opposing residents, Allison Lauderdale, appealed the decision to the Hinds County Circuit Court, arguing that the Board of Supervisors didn’t offer a written finding with its decision and that it should have required further environmental assessment. Lauderdale raised nearly $4,000 through a GoFundMe campaign to back her legal effort.

But the local court ruled against her, finding that the board did what was required of it. The Court of Appeals, after taking the case last year, affirmed the lower court’s decision on Tuesday.

In its opinion, the court pointed to measures Soul City agreed to after hearing the community’s objections. Those included offering to repair nearby roads, using trees as a visual screen around the facility and putting up “fencing” and “corridors” to allow wildlife to move through the project area.

“Soul City voluntarily accepted conditions that concerned the community. The fact that these conditions were taken on voluntarily, rather than imposed by the Board, does not negate the fact that they exist,” Appeals Court Judge Amy Lassitter St. Pé wrote in the decision.

Advertising the project in 2024, Apex Clean Energy said the new facility would produce 396 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power 95,000 homes. That production would make it the largest solar producing facility in the state, officials at the time told Mississippi Today.