Members of the Ogden Planning Board November 9 gave preliminary and final site plan approval for a 2.6 MW solar array on Whittier Road just west of the Washington Street intersection. The approval is conditional – developers must first satisfy any concerns of the town engineer regarding how water runoff will be handled.
Abundant Solar Power is proposing the solar array consisting of 425 solar tables on a 16.4 acre parcel between 676 and 692 Whittier Road. Abundant is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
On September 27, the Ogden Town Board approved application of the Solar Energy Systems Overlay District regulations to the site which is currently zoned R-1 Single Family Residential.
The Planning Board November 9 held a public hearing on the application prior to their vote.
Jared Pantella, a civil engineer with LaBella Associates, presented to the board regarding the project, which he said will, “pump power into the grid which people can use at a reduced rate.” He called solar power, “safe, efficient, cost effective, clean, sustainable, resilient and local,” and noted local residential customers who tap in would receive a 10 percent reduction in energy costs.
The low end of the solar tables will be 3 feet off the ground, and the high end 9 feet off the ground. The panels will have a fixed 26 degree tilt, Pantella said. The ground will be planted with either grass or clover and will be mowed.
The array will be surrounded by a 6 ft. chain link fence with privacy slats and no barbed wire. Landscaping will surround the fence and include trees in a staggered pattern, Pantella said. He noted the solar array will be a quiet addition to the neighborhood and neighbors will see only the fence and landscaping once the project is complete. Access to the array will be off of Whittier Rd.
Now that the project has received site plan approval from the Planning Board, Pantella said developers will next seek a conditional use permit from the Zoning Board. Construction could begin in mid 2018.
Pantella called the array a, “positive contribution to the Town of Ogden … which will give electric consumers a choice.” He said Abundant Solar utilizes local trades and businesses for landscaping, mowing and snow removal.
Local business owners and residents will have the opportunity to purchase power from the array.
Planning Board and town officials expressed no serious opposition with the proposal and several residents, including those who are neighbors of the project, also expressed no serious opposition during the public hearing.
Residents asked if they would be given priority to sign up for solar power once the array is complete.
Melissa Clark, vice-president of business development for Abundant Solar, said residents will be offered the opportunity to have first access to subscribing for power produced by the array, if they choose to do so. Both commercial and residential segments of the community will be able to purchase power from the array which will, “Make clean energy available to those who don’t have or don’t want (an array) on their own properties,” Clark said.
Typically, commercial arrays seek an anchor tenant which can purchase up to 40 percent of the power produced, Clark and Pantella said. That anchor tenant could be the Town of Ogden, they added.
Planning Board members were curious as to why a solar company would pick the Rochester area – one of the cloudiest places in the country – to place a solar array.
Clark said the project does not need full sun. “Germany is at the same (latitude) as Canada,” she noted. “They have been quite successful with solar.” She said sunshine peaks in the summer and that peak time off-sets darker times of the year. “It’s netted out over the course of a year,” she explained.
Another solar developer – Delaware River – is also in the process of obtaining town approval for a project, but the town has a long list of issues to review regarding that proposal, Patrick Smith, Ogden building inspector said.
