Solar Getting Warmer
Three solar power plants proposed for town-owned land in East Hampton and Springs would help East Hampton to achieve its renewable energy goals and earn it money in the process, but an initial review of two of the proposals by the town planning board on June 10 revealed a handful of issues that will have to be answered before the projects can move forward.
SunEdison, a multibillion-dollar Missouri company, has an option to lease an 11-acre parcel on Accabonac Road in Springs and 14.25 acres between Bull Path and Northwest Road in East Hampton for the solar plants, which it would run. The two sites, both former brush dumps, along with a third at the capped landfill on Springs-Fireplace Road in East Hampton, would provide 3.21 megawatts of power, enough for about 480 houses, according to the town’s assistant planning director, Joanne Pahwul. The company would sell power to PSEG-Long Island over a 20-year period.
“According to PSEG, the existing transmission lines are beyond their peak,” Ms. Pahwul wrote in a memo to the planning board, and the nearby power stations are already at capacity. PSEG would pay SunEdison for the power, which would lessen the burden on the stressed system.
The solar plants would feed power directly into the grid, according to Jason Funk, a representative of SunEdison. The process of converting sunlight into energy is quieter than the sound of an air-conditioner, Mr. Funk told the board.
Both the Accabonac and the Bull Path sites will eventually require special permits from the planning board, since they are in residential districts, as well as clearance variances from the town’s zoning board of appeals. Each would have a photovoltaic system inside a fenced compound with an access road and concrete pads to accommodate the solar panels.
The plan on Accabonac is for 3,258 separate 330-watt solar panels, each 11 feet tall. They would cover about 100,000 square feet, exceeding the maximum amount of coverage allowed for that sized lot by nearly a half acre, hence the need for a variance from the Z.B.A.
SunEdison had originally proposed using herbicides on the cleared area, but SunEdison withdrew that part of the proposal after hearing criticism from both the Planning Department and board members.
Job Potter, a planning board member, pointed out that there is a hiking trail at the Accabonac Road site that connects two portions of the Paumanonk Path. Because the fenced solar farm would interfere with the trail, Mr. Potter suggested that SunEdison consider relocating the trail to the south of the planned solar panels.
Despite Mr. Funk’s claims about noise, Kathleen Cunningham, another board member, warned that neighbors to the north might have a problem “going from no sound to some sound.” Some noise mitigation measures should be put in place, she said. “People are sensitive to noise. This is a rural area.”
Julie Strong, a neighbor, reiterated that point. She asked why neighbors had not yet heard of the proposal and said she thought it should be reduced in size. Zac Allentuck, who also lives in the area, asked that SunEdison move the entrance from north of the panels to the south, away from nearby residences.
At the Bull Path/Northwest Road site, the plan is to cover 8.6 acres with 5,832 320-watt solar panels, but SunEdison apparently has some questions about the property’s former use. According to Ms. Pahwul’s memo, it was mined for marl at one point, used as a landfill at another, and was most recently a brush dump. It is in a water recharge district.
The question for SunEdison has become, was the Bull Path site properly sealed when the dump there was closed? If not, it would appear unlikely that SunEdison would execute its option, and take on that potentially expensive process.