Smaller solar plan to get a new look
Proposal for Waterford reduced in size, number of panels
Waterford — The Connecticut Siting Council is again considering an application to build a 75-acre solar project off Oil Mill Road after developers submitted revised plans.
The new plan reduces the size of the project by 23 acres, eliminates more than 9,600 of the panels and according to the developer, improves the project’s stormwater management system.
Two years ago, state officials denied an application to build the array after town leaders and members of the Save the River-Save the Hills environmental group raised concerns about the environmental fragility and location of the project and its stormwater management plan.
The developer, GRE Gacrux LLC, a subsidiary of the Greenskies Power Group, now says it has addressed those concerns.
GRE Gacrux asked the Siting Council in January to reopen its application, proposing the project now be located over 75 acres which is part of a larger 152-acre site owned by Rosalie Irene Maguire and Todd Carl Willis between the Oil Mill and Stony brooks.
The developer has also stated it has hired VHB, an engineering firm from Massachusetts, to revise the application to decrease its impact on wildlife and improve the stormwater management design.
The new plan also proposes to decrease the size of the project from 55,692 solar panels to 45,976. According to Greenskies VP of Marketing Jeff Hintzke, the project would generate 16 megawatts of energy, which can power more than 3,000 homes, helping Connecticut meet its emissions-reduction targets of 45% below 2001 levels by 2030.
The array was originally brought forward to the siting council in 2018 by Greenskies Clean Energy, a Connecticut company co-founded
by former state Sen. Art Linares, a Republican from Westbrook, before it was acquired in December 2017 by Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Clean Focus Yield Limited.
In its most recent letter submitted to the Siting Council opposing the project, Save the River-Save the Hills said the installation would be detrimental to wildlife, the Oil Mill and Stony brooks and the forest that would have to be clearcut for the installation. Both brooks are considered “critically important” to maintaining the health and functions of the surrounding watershed area, according to STR-STH and the town, as they drain into the Niantic River.
STR-STH Vice President Deb Moshier-Dunn argued that Greenskies has a “a bad track record” when it comes to developing solar projects, pointing to a East Lyme project developed by a company subsidiary in 2014.
Because of a deficient stormwater management system, resident John Bialowans Jr. alleged his property, which sits downstream from the Walnut Hill Road development, was damaged by large amounts of stormwater runoff, destroying stream habitats for trout.
Bialowans sued in New London Superior Court in 2017, but a judge dismissed the case last December.
Moshier-Dunn said she is worried what a potentially ill-planned stormwater management system and clearcutting dozens of acres of land could mean for the health of the brooks and the river, which lies just 4,000 feet downstream from the proposed development. Steve Trinkaus, a civil engineer hired by STR-STH, has said he does not believe Greenskies has adequately calculated the amount of stormwater runoff that would be generated by the development.
GRE Gacrux attorney Lee Hoffman wrote in a Feb. 26 letter to Siting Council Executive
Director Melanie Bachman that STR-STH’s claims are baseless and “troubling.”
“The vast majority of the statements made in its February 12, 2020, letter are unsupported and in many instances are incorrect,” Hoffman wrote. “… Suffice it to say that GRE disagrees with what has been proffered by Save the River-Save the Hills, and GRE will set the record straight if the Council sees fit to re-open the Petition.”
Waterford has not yet submitted comments to the Siting Council on the matter but First Selectman Rob Brule said town officials would if the application is reopened.
A public hearing on the matter has been scheduled for March 31 at the Waterford Town Hall Auditorium. An evidentiary session, giving the involved parties an opportunity to present their positions is scheduled for 3 p.m. followed by a public comment section at 6:30 p.m.