“Lewis County has entered into an agreement with the New York Power Authority to explore the possibility of creating a community solar project on under-utilized county owned land.
The property adjacent to the county Solid Waste Facility at 7952 Route 26 not currently in use will be analyzed for solar suitability by the Authority through the Community Solar and Battery Storage program introduced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in February.
According to county Planning Director Casandra Buell, the program is designed to work with municipalities on creating ready-made sites for small-scale solar projects in the same way former brownfield, industrial and landfill sites are being prepped around the state for large-scale projects through the 94-C siting process that went into effect this year, replacing Article 10.
“Lewis County doesn’t (own) any of those large properties that aren’t forested and protected,” Mrs. Buell said. “The only opportunity that we had to lease land that we had available was the solid waste facility. There’s land surrounding that facility that’s under-utilized mainly because it’s wetlands and it’s kind of a wonky area.””
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Abbass, Julie. NNY 360 website 15 May 2021.