A 785-acre commercial solar farm is apparently in the works for the Town of Sharon.
The proposed East Point Energy Center would encompass 783 acres south of Route 20 between Beech and Parsons Roads and north of Route 20 to Sharon Hill Road.
It would have a generating capacity of 50 megawatts, making it 25 times larger than the 15-acre, two megawatt Bird’s Eye solar farm just coming online off Route 20 between Sharon Hill and the Village of Sharon Springs.
Maps included with the proposed application seem to put the project at the former Wilson Manchester and Pomella Farms to the south on land owned by High Hill Farms on both sides of Route 20.
East Point Energy would lease the land from the owners.
Supervisor Sandra Manko learned of the proposal in a February 1 letter from TRC Solutions of Ithaca, which didn’t return emails on the project in time for this story.
Documents on the project website, eastpointenergycenter.com, however, show a “Public Involvement Program Plan for the East Point Energy Center, Schoharie County, New York” dated November 2017.
It’s not an auspicious start to the project, said Ms. Manko, who’s set up a conference call with the developers.
“You think I’d be their new best friend,” she said.
Joint Planning Board Chairman Ray Parsons is also concerned because it appears that the town, the first in Schoharie County to write a local solar law, will have no say in whether the project is approved.
That’s because it’s part of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s efforts to increase solar throughout the state.
In a January 12 letter, also to Ms. Manko, the state’s Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment notes that it’s up to them “to issue Certificates of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need authorizing the construction of major electric generating facilities.”
“We’re under the impression that we don’t have a lot to say about it,” Mr. Parsons said.
The 40-page PIP Plan offers few solid details, mostly listing stakeholders, including state and local agencies and officials; outlining the notification process, and demographic data—all required by the Article 10 process.
It does, however, note that in addition to the 783-acre project, there’s a study area of 17,346 acres--—a two-mile circle around the proposed project site—that stretches into the Towns of Seward and Carlisle and across the county line into the Montgomery County Town of Root.
East Point Energy estimates 125-175 temporary construction jobs in eight months of construction and two-three permanent local employment positions.
An estimated timeline calls for spring and summer informational meetings, the filing of the Article 10 application in the fall, and a fall 2021 commercial operation date.
Ms. Manko said it looks like the town’s only real say will be in submitting names to the project’s Siting Board, which will make the final decision on the project.
She was told to submit four names, she said, and has—Maureen Blanchard, Maureen Lodes, Alex Rohac, and Carol Vacca; only two will be chosen.
Under the town’s solar law, commercial solar farms are required to pay taxes or negotiate payments in lieu of taxes.
Negotiations with the Bird’s Eye developers to also get some electricity for the school never worked out.
“Even with Bird’s Eye, we’re hardly getting rich,” she said of that PILOT, “and that’s the best deal ever negotiated in the state.”