Current visual impact assessment for permit approval is (has?) to include a viewshed that shows the number of sampled project points seen from locations in a study area. These analyses typically do not weight the impact of points closer to the viewer higher than points further away. Perhaps more important, the analysis does not represent the portions of a project that have the greatest visual prominence. This paper develops a method to conduct these analyses and applies it to a photovoltaic solar energy project in Maryland, USA.