A few showers early, then clouds lingering overnight. Low 47F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..
A few showers early, then clouds lingering overnight. Low 47F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Updated: May 28, 2026 @ 6:27 pm
Broken panels at the ER Waite Cemetery Solar Site, seen on April 21. The damaged panels have since been removed.
The ER Waite Cemetery Solar Site, seen on Thursday. Damaged solar panels have been removed.
Broken panels at the ER Waite Cemetery Solar Site, seen on April 21. The damaged panels have since been removed.
The worksite setup at the ER Waite Cemetery Solar site, seen on Thursday.
Broken panels at the ER Waite Cemetery Solar Site, seen on April 21. The damaged panels have since been removed.
The ER Waite Cemetery Solar Site, seen on Thursday. Damaged solar panels have been removed.
Broken panels at the ER Waite Cemetery Solar Site, seen on April 21. The damaged panels have since been removed.
The worksite setup at the ER Waite Cemetery Solar site, seen on Thursday.
SHAFTSBURY — Interest from concerned residents and state agencies has spiked since incidents of wind damage and a small fire at a 2.2 MW solar installation on Waite Cemetery Road.
Correspondence with the state indicates that panels have been knocked down by wind in October 2025 and again in March. The Shaftsbury Fire Department responded to and extinguished a small fire at the site in mid-April
In filings with the Public Utility Commission, the attorney for ER Waite Cemetery Solar, LLC, acknowledged that damage to solar panel modules at the facility was caused by a windstorm that occurred on October 30.
“The CPG (Certificate of Public Good) Holder acted immediately to place the site in a safe condition, remove the risk of fire and disconnect from the power grid in cooperation with Green Mountain Power,” writes Jeffrey O. Polubinski, of Gravel & Shea PC, in a letter dated April 17.
In correspondence with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets, the firm stated that another wind-damage incident occurred this March.
Numerous panels could be seen on the ground during a visit to the fenced-in site on April 21.
The array sits on a hilltop not far from the planned 20 MW Shaftsbury Solar project west of Route 7 and south of Holy Smoke Road. The Gravel & Shea correspondence states that at the request of the owner’s insurance company, no work was done on the facility after the October incident until an investigation was completed into the damage. That inspection was not completed until January 2026.
After that, work was put off due to a requirement in the project’s certificate of public good that work on the site not take place from December 15 to April 15 within 300 feet of a deer wintering area located to the east of the site, without prior authorization of Vermont Fish and Wildlife.
Before a special Shaftsbury Select Board meeting on Thursday, April 15, Chair Zoe Contros Kearl announced that there had been a fire at the facility the previous Sunday night, on April 12. She said the Shaftsbury Fire Department was able to put it out before it spread.
A visit on Thursday showed that the damaged panels had been removed and signs of ongoing work, such as portable toilets were onsite.
Correspondence with the PUC from a resident and the group Vermonters for a Clean Environment have detailed concerns with the site. In response, state agencies have weighed in on these concerns.
Vermonters for a Clean Environment filed a comment with the PUC on March 27. This was a photo of downed solar panels at the site.
On April 22 Jesse S. McDougall, of Shaftsbury, filed a comment with the PUC focusing on the environmental contamination risks “posed by solar panel modules that have been broken and exposed to weather conditions since October 30, 2025 — nearly six months — including at least two fire events at the Facility.”
One concern is that the “no environmental hazards” designation on material safety data sheets for the panels does not apply to broken, fire-damaged panels. Another concern put forth by McDougall is that peer-reviewed research demonstrates heavy metal leaching from broken crystalline silicon panels exposed to acidic precipitation. Fire events can release hydrogen fluoride and other toxic compounds from backsheets made of Fluoropolymer, he adds.
A solar panel backsheet is the outermost layer on the rear side of a photovoltaic module. McDougall argues further that visual inspection after damage is not and adequate environmental assessment of possible contamination.
The concerns led to written responses and ongoing inquiries from such state bodies as the Agency of Natural Resources, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, and the Department of Public Services. This and other documentation can be found by searching case file number 21-4073-PET on the Public Utility Commission’s public portal.
A resident’s concerns
Creating significant controversy in recent years is the planned 20 MW Shaftsbury Solar project.
The project site is located on approximately 80 acres over four separate parcels. In certifying this project last year, the PUC wrote, “This will be a large facility — equal in scale to the largest solar generation project that we have previously approved.”
McDougall said in an email to the Banner that his immediate concern was with the extensive damage to the Waite Cemetery solar array and the extent to which toxic chemicals have leached into the soil and water supply.
“I hope that can be determined and remediated competently and completely,” he wrote. “My larger concern is that this Waite Cemetery solar array damage is just the canary in the coal mine signaling the fate of the nearly ten times larger Shaftsbury Solar array that’s planned for the abutting hilltop’s fields and forests — just 1,000 feet to the west — which suffers from the same intense wind events.
“Vermont’s industrial arrays are being built by global commodities trading corporations and absentee owners who either don’t know or don’t care about the fragile environments and communities they’re disrupting,” he added. “They are bulls in a china shop and Vermont’s insulated political class is inviting them in.”
Mark Rondeau can be reached at mrondeau@benningtonbanner.com
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