|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By Guy Page
Voters in a town already home to a major wind turbine project went to the polls Saturday to decide whether to spend $50,000 to fight a controversial 30-acre, 4.9999 megawatt solar power project. The result in Lowell, the western-most town in Orleans County: an 86-86 tie.
The original tally was 87-86, but one ballot – a Yes – was spoiled because it was signed by the voter. That left the final vote deadlocked. The selectboard is asking the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office for direction about how to proceed, Lowell resident and WDEV news director Lee Kittell announced on Monday’s episode of the Vermont Daily Chronicle’s Hot Off The Press.
The selectboard called an all-day special meeting of all 757 of the town’s registered voters to decide, by Australian (ballot booth) vote, to settle this question: “Do you as a town resident support the Lowell Selectboard spending money not currently in the budget to pay for legal representation in navigating the PUC (Public Utility Commission) to stand against the Northland Solar Project Case# 25-2346-PET.”
An official of the PUC, the state’s energy project regulator, ruled in November to not grant the town’s petition for more time to review Northland’s application for a Certificate of Public Good (CPG). A public hearing on the Northland project was scheduled for last week.
In Vermont, energy projects typically receive the thumbs up or thumbs down at the state level. Act 248, not Act 250, oversees solar power project permit. And unlike Act 250, which provides opportunities for local and regional regulatory pushback against projects, Act 248 invests the PUC with decision-making authority. That’s why the selectboard is seeking financial support to pay for a lawyer at the upcoming CPG hearings, rather than simply decide on the project at the local level.
Critics of the Northland plan point to the loss of a large swath of prime agricultural land which has produced hay for local cows for over a century. And unlike the Kingdom Community Wind project, which showered the town with revenue resulting in one of the state’s lowest local property taxes, Northland has not been particularly generous with financial benefits to offset the perceived downsides of the project.
The Lowell Selectboard had sought the funding after raising doubts about the project’s tax benefits – reportedly a mere $2,000 – and the developer’s responsiveness to town concerns. With the tie vote, the board has not yet decided whether to hold a revote, even as a key Public Utility Commission evidence deadline looms at the end of January.
MHG Solar has offered concessions, including setbacks from Route 100, continued access for a VAST snowmobile trail, and donating land for a community garden and sledding hill, according to a report in the Newport Daily Express. However, town officials noted these promises may not carry over if the property changes hands. The town’s legal challenge focuses on the PUC approval process.
Discover more from Vermont Daily Chronicle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categories: Energy, Local government
Act 248 is a mental health confinement law. Solar projects go through Section 248 (of 30 V.S.A.).
Solar projects are taxed at the rate of $4 per kW, via the Uniform Capacity Tax. A 500 kW project (cost about $1 million) would pay $2000. A 5000 kW project would pay $20,000. The UCT goes to the education fund, but there is not good information about whether or not it is collected.
All solar arrays 50 kW and above are subject to the UTC, but the tax department’s data shows that they have collected UCT taxes for fewer than 300 solar projects. Most all of these big solar projects are sold to out of state investment banks and hedge funds and are the beneficiaries of Vermont’s very generous solar tax rate which has not been changed since 2012.
Additionally, listers must lock in the property tax value of the land at the time the solar project goes into operation, and the value cannot be changed for the life of the project.
This is the statute https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/32/215/08701
Title 32 : Taxation and Finance
Chapter 215 : Renewable Energy
§ 8701. Uniform capacity tax
Isn’t Peter Welches wife a member of the Public Utilities Commission? I wonder how heavily he is invested in MHG Solar?
Grifter politicians have no limits…
She’s the chair of puc.
Ed McNamara is Chair of the PUC, a full time job. Margaret Cheney, Sen. Peter Welch’s wife, is a PUC Commissioner, a part time job.
The photo of the Pawlet project looks sad. Cut the top off a mountain for what? It’s cloudy 6 months of the year, so production of energy is diminished. Lowell’s will be in a hay field, eye level so to speak. Vermont is not a good state for solar. Did the windmills go up on the ridge there yet? With the blinking lights 24/7 for a small amount of power that goes to the grid, none of these projects lower local electricity bills.
The Pawlet solar array is on a slate quarry waste pile, so in that sense it would be considered good siting. However, it is in an area that does not have that much load to serve, so in that sense it is not good siting. If you look at the GMP Solar Map for the substation for that area, it shows that it is now over capacity.
Build renewable energy next to where the power is used, not in the middle of nowhere.
The Lowell wind project went online at the end of 2012. In 2016 we conducted an investigation into the environmental issues. You can read it here https://vermontersforacleanenvironment.wordpress.com/2016/08/05/vces-investigation-into-the-environmental-health-of-the-lowell-mountains-with-industrial-wind-turbines-july-2016/
The proposed Lowell solar project is in an area that has too much generation for the amount of power consumed. Definition of poor energy policy to build solar so far from where it’s needed. Build it in Chittenden County.
As far as the visibility, this Lowell solar project has high visibility compared to most solar arrays, as it is low down in a valley with surrounding mountains. The visibility map shows a extensive visibility from the area around Eden Notch to the west.
MHG, the developer of Pawlet and Lowell solar with a Vermont address is based now in Oregon, sells almost all of their projects out of state. One company, standardsolar.com, has purchased some of them. From their website, learn that in 2022 they were acquired by Brookfield https://standardsolar.com/company/.
Brookfield is a global investment company operating in more than 50 countries
https://www.brookfield.com/about-us/who-we-are
and is the owner of the Sheffield, Vermont wind project. Here is background on Sheffield Wind https://vermontersforacleanenvironment.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/what-other-levers-did-first-wind-pull/
which started as UPC Wind, then changed its name to FirstWind, then was sold to SunEdison https://www.utilitydive.com/news/sunedison-terraforma-to-acquire-first-wind/334222/
that spun it off into a Yieldco called Terraform Power.
SunEdison declared bankruptcy https://www.investopedia.com/investing/sunedison-classic-wall-street-boom-and-bust-story/,
Terraform wasn’t included in it and Brookfield picked up. https://bep.brookfield.com/press-releases/bep/brookfield-renewable-completes-acquisition-terraform-global
Brookfield’s Renewable division has $137 Billion in Assets Under Management
https://www.brookfield.com/about-us/capabilities/renewable-power-transition
Their corporate headquarters are in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
We get our hay from that field. Unfortunately it appears like most of the disappearing farmland in the state Farming doesn’t pay enough to keep it for farming. They’ve already butchered the top of Lowell Mountain for wind towers why not put the panels up there
Why not build another state of the art nuclear facility in Vernon, a Vermont Yankee II as it were, and remove all the inefficient, butt ugly solar arrays and windmills in the State?
Community-owned solar is the answer. Keep the power and the profits local. 5 megawatts is almost enough to power the whole county, and, to lower everyone’s property taxes significantly.