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Updated: September 15, 2026 @ 5:29 am
A picture of flooding in May 2021 off Route 7 between Copake and Craryville, near the site of the proposed Hecate solar farm.
Site of the proposed Shepherd’s Run Solar Project in Copake.
A picture of flooding in May 2021 off Route 7 between Copake and Craryville, near the site of the proposed Hecate solar farm.
Site of the proposed Shepherd’s Run Solar Project in Copake.
COPAKE — A two-judge panel oversaw a hearing Monday on the two elements of proposed Hecate solar farm project in the town.
A senior engineer from Hecate Energy, the company proposing the 215-acre Shepherd’s Run solar farm in the town, was questioned at the hearing about its compliance with town flood laws during the first part of a state-run hearing about key details about the solar project.
The state Department of Public Service held the hearing after the interim director of the state Office Renewable Energy Siting determined two facets of the project, which is being managed by Hecate Energy, needed fleshing out before he could make a final decision on whether a building permit could be issued.
Hecate’s compliance with the town’s flood law, which requires projects in a Federal Emergency Management Agency-designated flood zone to mitigate flood impacts before getting a permit from the town, was the first. The second issue, the solar farm’s impact on state-protected wetlands, was the subject of a hearing which began Monday afternoon.
Over 100 residents packed into the Copake Town Hall on Monday with many opposed to the project wearing “Stop Shepherd’s Run” pins on their clothes.
Kip Smith, Hecate’s senior civil engineering manager, testified to his company’s compliance with Copake’s flood law. Because FEMA did not compute the specific elevation water would rise to in the event of an 100-year flood, Hecate used a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers model to determine it for themselves, Smith testified.
“What we’ve provided is the inundation [flooding] depths (from the U.S. Army Corps model), the elevation data, and information showing that we will have all the components of concern (12 inches above water levels projected during a 100-year flood),” Smith said.
Benjamin Wisniewski, an attorney representing the town of Copake, which is opposed to the project, sought to show Hecate had not submitted enough data for the town to determine how the solar panels’ presence would impact floodwater flow under its flood law. Smith countered he is “very confident” his company had provided sufficient data, but repeatedly said the data was preliminary and would change slightly as final design details are clarified.
The data Hecate submitted only accounts for the impact of floodwaters on the project site before any development has occurred and does not account for the impact of final grading, new access roads, solar panels and posts, inverters and other above‑ground electrical equipment, and security fencing, Smith told Wisniewski. All of those changes could be added, but would come after a final building permit is issued, Smith said.
“The post-development hydraulic (flood impact) model has not been run yet,” Smith said.
Elsewhere in his testimony, he made the case those additions would have little impact on the overall picture.
As the plans for the proposed solar farm stands, only the poles supporting the panels would be in floodwater, occupying 0.01% of the physical area the floodwater would fill, Smith said. As design details are finalized, other elements, like fencing, could bring that number to 0.012%, Smith added.
“There is simply no mechanism by which this project would cause any rise in flood levels,” Smith said.
Key parts of the project, including solar panels, inverters, access roads and fencing are in the FEMA designated flood zone, Smith confirmed in response to questioning from Copake’s attorney Benjamin Wisniewski. The solar panels would be raised 12 inches above maximum floodwater levels shown in Hecate modeling, and fencing and the posts supporting the solar panels would have a negligible impact on floodwater levels, Smith said.
Hecate plans to move the inverters, which turn the energy produced by the panels into energy for the power grid, out of the flood zone in its final design, Smith said, a change that will require sign-off from the state, an ORES representative confirmed at the hearing.
Access roads located in the flood zone, including some that are the means of reaching parts of the project, would likely be undamaged by floodwater because they will be made of gravel, Smith said. The flooding of roads leading to a collection of panels without a nearby inverter could preclude access by first responders, but that would not matter as much because the lack of an inverter means “there wouldn’t normally be anybody in that area,” Smith testified.
When Hecate’s attorney, Noah Shaw, objected that the focus on first responder access did not relate to the terms of Copake’s flood law, one of the Department of Public Service administrative law judges running the hearing clarified that the judges see public safety as an important part of the law.
“I thought it had as its purpose the protection of public health and safety and our [Copake’s] waterways, our flood areas, and so forth, and the ability for a town to recover on insurance,” Administrative Law Judge Maureen Leary said. “I disagree with you, Mr. Shaw. I think this is a line of questioning that’s highly relevant, particularly to the people who are in this room who live in this area.”
The judges will rule on both the flooding and wetlands issues after the hearings are complete.
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