William M. Buchan, a lawyer who is working with the town and village of Canton on solar issues, told village trustees last month that the odds of stopping EDF Renewables from installing a 1,700-acre solar project were “infinitesimally small.”
When he declared this April 19, he wasn’t saying something that anyone paying attention didn’t already know. New York has an aggressive timetable for decarbonizing its electricity system, and it’s largely cut municipal governments out of the project-siting process.
By 2030, the state’s goal is to move toward 70% renewables. In 2040, the goal is 100% carbon-free electricity. By 2050, the goal is a carbon-neutral economy.
The Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth and Community Benefit Act, passed in 2020 as part of the state budget, removed renewable energy projects from the Article 10 process. Under Article 10, two local ad hoc representatives had the opportunity to consider proposed solar and wind projects as members of each New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment.
The act created the Office of Renewable Energy Siting under the Department of State. While the Public Service Department still oversees the Article 10 process, the Office of Renewable Energy Siting now reviews renewable energy projects. Community input has been greatly diminished when it comes to solar and wind.
A provision in this year’s state budget altered the Real Property Tax Law. The change eliminated the ability of municipalities to assess solar and wind projects at their full value, although a lawsuit filed has prevented the state from enforcing this part of the new for the time being.
The state’s goals to reduce the effects of climate change are not achievable with small projects. It will take big projects built where transmission infrastructure is already in place to meet the short-term goals. The 5-megawatt community solar projects won’t move the needle meaningfully.
As some have suggested, rooftops and parking lots could contribute locally or individually. Still, EDF is building here because it was able to find enough contiguous acreage near a transmission line to make the economics of its project work out. If there is an abandoned 1,700-acre parking lot near a high-voltage transmission line somewhere, a solar energy company is likely eyeing it.
“The climate act says we have to decarbonize our economy. We have to go away from fossil fuels, and that means we need alternative forms of energy throughout the state on a massive scale,” Buchan told Canton trustees, according to a story published April 20 by the Watertown Daily Times. “So folks like us — towns, villages, counties who are normally part of the permitting process — we have been preempted entirely from the review process. So our role is to make sure the siting board hears our voice and hears the things that we think are important and requires mitigation by the developer.”
The goal for Canton is to have a strong team of intervenors in place to ensure the solar project does not become Canton’s defining feature.
It will likely be more than a year before EDF starts building. During that time, the intervenors will review every inch of the EDF’s application at ores.ny.gov and work with the developers to meet our goals to maintain Canton’s unique agricultural, rural living and higher education. If there is no stopping the project, we must strive to make sure the project is something we can live with.
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