Move over Sharon.
Carlisle.
And Seward.
Now it’s Schoharie’s turn.
After hearing nothing since 2021, Supervisor Ben Oevering said he’s been notified that SWEB Solar plans to move ahead with plans for a 17.5MW project on Warner Hill.
Mr. Oevering said he received an email from SWEB that they plan to file an application with the state’s Office of Renewable Energy Siting sometime between December 2024 and March 2025.
It’s unclear why the application would be filed with ORES, which is intended for projects 20-25MW.
Under the state’s 94-c, all large-scale, renewable energy projects with a “nameplate generating capacity” of 25MW or larger–including battery energy storage systems and electric transmission facilities less than 10 miles in length–must obtain a siting permit from ORES for new construction or expansion.
Projects with a nameplate at least 20MW, but less than 25MW may “opt in.”
Nameplate capacity is the theoretical output registered with authorities for classifying the unit.
According to the state, for “intermittent power sources, such as wind and solar, nameplate power is the source’s output under ideal conditions, such as maximum usable wind or high sun on a clear summer day.”
The 98-acre site at 265 Warner Hill Road, is owned by Warner Slate LLC, of Brooklyn and assessed at $210,000 with full market value of $384,375.
The property is zoned R1.
Neighbors have expressed concern that it’s a karst site.
Karst is bedrock that creates sinkholes, sinking streams, caves, and springs when it dissolves, offering little in the way of filtration to nearby wells.
The project first surfaced in 2021, 100 acres off Ward Lane on Warner Hill, as the proposed SWEB Solar project.
That was at the start of ORES, but before the regulations were finalized; it was also before the tax law was rewritten, lowering the assessments on large-scale solar and wind.
According to its website, SWEB completed two solar projects in Brimfield and Brookfield, Massachusetts in 2021; 2.6 and 5MW respectively.
The rest of the 17 projects listed are wind.
All of its projects are located on the upper East Coast.
Since 2021, ORES has issued permits for 16 projects.
ORES issued a draft permit for the 20MW Rock District Solar in the Towns of Carlisle and Seward on August 2 and has scheduled one of the final pieces in review of the Cypress Creek proposal for Wednesday, October 9 at SUNY Cobleskill.
Both towns are waiting for more details on that public hearing.
Two other projects just over the Schoharie County line in Montgomery County are also in the ORES pipeline.
In August 2023, SunEast Flat Creek Solar submitted an intent to file for a 300MW project in the Towns of Root and Glen.
SunEast is still in the process of filing required documents with ORES, which has yet to rule that the application is complete.
In February 2024, ConnectGen Montgomery County filed its application for the 250MW Mill Creek Solar I, also in the Town of Glen.
ORES has yet to move that that application is complete.
Friday, supervisors’ energy Committee chair Don Airey said they’ve heard nothing on the Article 78 “home rule” lawsuit challenging the state’s authority to set assessment rates–and so tax revenue–for large-scale solar and wind.
Mr. Airey shared figures from the Town of Sharon, where the 50-MW NextEra project went online this spring.
The penalties for converting land from agricultural to solar—ag is assessed at a lower value--total $81,750.70.
Of that, the town will see an additional $9,137.20 in revenue, Sharon Springs Central School, $46,939.20; and the county, $25,674.30—money that will come from the property owners, not NextEra.