State Siting Board meeting to consider rehearing for North Side Energy Center

Bob Beckstead, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
·3 min read

Dec. 3—BRASHER — The state Board on Electric Generation Siting and Environment will meet at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday to consider a petition for rehearing filed by the North Side Energy Center.

The meeting can be viewed at www.dps.ny.gov/Webcasts.html.

The solar electric generating facility is planned for development in the towns of Brasher, Norfolk and Massena. However, its plans hit a snag in August when the siting board denied North Side Energy Center's request to build the 180-megawatt solar farm. They said the proposed project would have impacted threatened and endangered species.

Department of Public Service Administrative Law Judge Maureen F. Leary had recommended the denial during a presentation to the siting board. She cited several issues with the project's failure to address impacted wetlands.

"Today, after due consideration by a consultation with advisory staff, the siting board has before it today a proposed order that denies issuance of a certificate for the North Side Solar Energy project because the record demonstrates that the project is not in the public interest," Judge Leary said. "Essentially, the board's denial is based on the applicant's failure to demonstrate that the project meets the mandatory criteria in Public Service Law Section 1683 in so far as the record fails to show that the project as proposed minimizes and avoids adverse environmental impacts to the maximum extent practicable, including impacts to freshwater wetlands and threatened and endangered species."

The project, as designed, she added, "fails to comply with applicable and substantive requirements of state environmental laws and regulations, including specifically Environmental Conservation Law 11, which governs the protection of threatened and endangered species and their habitat, and ECL Article 24, which governs the protection of freshwater wetlands."

Without the required findings, she said the siting board "cannot conclude that the project is in the public interest."

Following the ruling, North Side Energy Center said they were evaluating their next steps.

"North Side Energy Center is aware of, and disappointed by, the siting board's decision. We are evaluating our next steps at this time," NextEra Energy Resources spokesman Matt Eissey said in an email.

The developer had the option to seek a rehearing and appeal the siting board's decision or file a new application.

NextEra Energy Resources, through its subsidiary North Side Energy Center, has proposed developing, building, owning and operating a solar facility that would produce 180 megawatts of power. It would have had a construction period of about 12 to 14 months, starting late this year and going into 2023.

The 180-megawatt solar energy center would be located on land leased or purchased from private property owners in the towns of Brasher, Norfolk and Massena. Project components included commercial-scale solar arrays; access roads; buried, and possibly overhead electric collection lines; a project collection substation; and electrical interconnection facilities.

The bulk of the project — 90% — was slated to be located in Brasher.

Although the project area is 2,200 acres, the actual solar facility area encompassed 961 acres. The company had partnered with local landowners to have access to the project area, but the land will still belong to the landowners.