Town Boards Send Different Messages to PSB About Solar Project
by Edd Merritt,
January 12, 2012, page 1.....

Agreeing on several issues and disagreeing on others – most specifically the placement of a 2.2 megawatt solar farm in an open agricultural field abutting the Charlotte/Hinesburg Road – two of the town’s influential boards chose to submit separate letters to the state Public Service Board (PSB) prior to year’s end, 2011. The letters followed several meetings at which members of the public commented, both favorably and unfavorably, about the panels and their placement.
Both groups agree on the need for developing sources of renewable energy. The Selectboard generally supports the project on the site on which it is proposed, while the Planning Commission urges the PSB to seek a less prominently visible spot in a commercial district. In its letter the commission says that it is “aware that Section 248 projects are exempt from the Town’s review under the local zoning bylaws,” but believes it is important for the PSB to note that Charlotte’s Land Use Regulations do not allow it within the zoning district in which it is proposed, a “rural,” not “commercial” district.
The Planning Commission suggests that for a project of this magnitude (15 acres generating 2.2 megawatts of electricity), “local zoning should be given due consideration.” The commission suggests locating such a project in the Commercial/Light Industrial District in town that is adjacent to the existing VELCO transmission power line.
Both bodies urge the PSB, if it approves the solar farm in the proposed location, to reduce the project’s impact on neighboring properties by moving it northward and further west, landscaping it with trees to screen the panels and other structures within the facility and shifting the access road to the western edge of the property.
According to Town Planner Dean Bloch, he understands that “the opportunity (for Selectboard, Planning Commission and others) to apply for party status presents itself after the applicant submits the petition (i.e. application) for a Certificate of Public Good,” which was expected to happen at some point after January 3. The PSB’s public hearing will also be scheduled at some point after that.
Selectboard member Dennis Delaney asked specific questions of the representatives of the developer, Charlotte Solar, LLC, at the joint meeting of his body and the Planning Commission. He recently received a response from the solar contractor’s Lars Cartwright, which Delaney feels is worth sharing with the public.
In regard to similar projects that adjoin or are in close view of residential areas, Cartwright points to ones in Ferrisburgh and New Haven, along with net-metered projects in South Burlington and Hinesburg, which he says are “visible from private homes and in the public right-of-way.” They include stand-alone panels, smaller arrays and tracking structures that move with the sun.
Several of Delaney’s questions revolved about the fiscal impact of the project on ratepayers, adjoining landowners and those who would bear the cost of decommissioning should that be required. Asked whether the firm energy price required to be paid by utilities and their ratepayers over 25 years could be higher than market, Cartwright said that the Legislature established, “as state law, a program to promote renewable energy, part of which included setting the prices Vermont utilities would pay for these sources of renewable generation,” based on the generating cost.
There are some in town who feel that since solar power is in its infancy, costs of generating it may drop with newly created technologies, They feel that setting it based on current rates may be premature.
In regard to the financial impact on adjoining properties – another major bone of contention at the public meetings – Solar Charlotte said that in six other large-scale standard offer solar projects, the PSB concluded that the projects will provide an economic benefit to the state and in “none of these cases has the Board found that compensation to other landowners was necessary. Charlotte Solar believes its project is similarly situated to those other projects.”
Asked whether the investors will bond for decommissioning costs, Cartwright responded that the PSB requires decommissioning funds for all standard offer projects, and Charlotte Solar will abide by those requirements.
The firm has reviewed the townspeople’s requests for changes to the pre-application, and it filed a completed application with the PSB at the end of last week. According to Selectboard Chair, Charles Russell, the town hopes to achieve “active party status” in the Public Service Board’s deliberations.