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Despite local opposition, the Connecticut Siting Council has given the go-ahead for building large solar farms in Simsbury and Ellington.
The decisions give Lodestar Energy permission to build a 4.65-megawatt solar array along Nod Road in Simsbury, and authorized Greenskies Clean Energy to put up a 5-megawatt facility on Schoolhouse Road in Ellington near the Stafford line.
In each case, a group of residents of the town and surrounding communities had fought to keep the operations out — and the decisions raised a fresh round of complaints about the powerful Siting Council’s ability to override local preferences.
“The siting council is taking away our local controls,” Sharon Lawlor wrote on a Simsbury-related Facebook page this week. “This should be illegal.”
In Ellington, resident Susan Joyse also posted criticism of the council’s decision.
“Again the siting council approves a solar field in a town east of the river. This needs to stop,” Joyse wrote. “There is plenty of land west of the river … oh that’s right, that’s where the mega rich live.”
But in both cases, the Siting Council imposed a series of conditions on developers intended to protect neighbors.
In its decision in the Simsbury case, the council acknowledged that more than 50 people either spoke at a hearing or submitted written comments expressing concerns about fire safety, water quality, scenic views, open space and recreation, noise or potential impact on local wildlife. The council said it addressed those points in its requirements on Lodestar.
The company plans to put more than 10,000 solar panels on about 19 acres of a 119-acre site at 140 Nod Road.
The property had been a golf course and currently is used by Tower Disc Golf, but that business has warned that it would close if the solar farm plan went through. Two weeks ago, Tower announced “Both courses will remain open until Nov. 22. This is the last day there will baskets on the big course. Most or part of the par 3/Tiki course will remain as part of Talcott Mountain Collective.”
That news led numerous customers to comment that solar panels belong on buildings or industrial brownfields rather than at the golf property.
Greenskies Clean Energy plans its 4.99-megawatt facility on about 21 acres of a 75-acre fruit orchard along Schoolhouse Road. The Ellington project entails about 11,000 solar panels.
The council on Sept. 17 issued a declaratory ruling that favors Greenskies by concluding the project won’t have a significant environmental impact. But the council imposed more than 20 conditions that the company must meet during construction and subsequent operations.
In the Simsbury and Ellington cases, the solar companies plan to maintain the arrays for at least 20 years, and have agreed to dispose of the solar panels in an environmentally sound way when the projects are concluded.
For the Ellington project, the council is requiring Greenskies to install “high voltage” warning signs at gate locations, take protective measures for the Shenipsit Lake watershed, and submit a final site plan that details the type of fencing it will use around the array.
For the nearly $11 million Simsbury project, the council is requiring a fence around the facility with a 10-foot buffer to the array, a site plan including stormwater management control structures and landscaping, an aquifer protection plan, a spill prevention and control plan, and a detailed construction schedule.
Lodestar also must supply a final operations plan that shows an inspection/maintenance schedule for the facility.
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