Ti becoming a leader in Adirondack solar

RAY BROOK | The Adirondack Park Agency approved a 20-megawatt solar farm off of Street Road in Ticonderoga Thursday, the largest such project to date in an area that is becoming a hotbed for renewable energy. The project, which still needs one last technical review before the town planning board, will earn Ticonderoga a minimum of $40,000 annually under a payment plan negotiated by the town, said APA analyst Ariel Lynch. The town will also hold nearly $320,000 the solar company is putting up as a bond to remediate the property when the solar array is decommissioned. APA officials said Ticonderoga has become a leader not just in solar projects, but solar governance. When solar projects were first proposed, the town enacted a moratorium giving it time to draw up adequate regulations. With the county Industrial Development Agency, it also drew up a Payment in Lieu of Taxes schedule that would be affordable for the companies, while also generating revenue for the town. The East Light Partners Ticonderoga Solar project will collect energy from 46,000 panels on 77 acres located west of Street Road and south of Veterans Road. Based on Solar Energy Industries Association estimates, a 20-megawatt solar farm would power more than 3,000 homes. Lynch said passing motorists on Street Road would catch a few glimpses of the solar panels, but other than that they would mostly be out of sight. The farm will be seen in the distance from Mt, Defiance, but only from the back of the mountain, not from the primary view looking out over Lake Champlain. Newly planted trees will help screen the panels, and the grounds will be seeded with native pollinators. Mowing and tree trimming will be limited to certain times of the year in order to be ecologically friendly. The panels will be fenced, with a gap at the bottom to allow the passage of small animals. The land has historically been used for agriculture and includes pasture and the remnants of an old orchard. The orchard land tests high for arsenic due to pesticide use and will be remediated onsight. The APA itself has little in the way of proactive solar regulations, although it reviews projects that — as this one does — encroach on wetlands or has some other condition that triggered a review. But some commissioners voiced concern that, parkwide, solar farms are becoming more common and not all jurisdictions have regulations, as does Ticonderoga. Commissioner John Ernst said some sort of more comprehensive policy might be necessary. Along with issues such as sightlines and setbacks, solar farms raise questions about the amount of farmland they are taking out of production. And not all projects are on open land; some require tree cutting. Daniel Kelleher, APA special assistant for economic affairs, said the agency can regulate solar farms for their environmental impact, but could not, for example, set limits on the number of solar farms. But as the state pushes toward renewable energy goals, Kelleher said it's quite conceivable that the park's energy needs could be met by solar institutions within the Blue Line. Meeting the needs of the park's 131,000 full-time residents would require between 1,500 and 2,200 acres of solar arrays, he said.

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Ti becoming a leader in Adirondack solar

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