PUBLIC STATEMENT HEARING

A public comment hearing pursuant to 16 NYCRR part 1100 to hear and receive unsworn comments from the public will be held at the Paul Nigra Center for Creative Arts, 2736 NY-30, Gloversville, NY 12078 on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. All persons, organizations, corporations, or government agencies who may be affected by the facility are invited to attend the hearing and comment on the application and the draft permit conditions.

Please read the full notice, including instructions on how to submit written comments, here.

PRIOR UPDATE

On December 4, 2023, Boralex submitted its 94-c application for Foothills Solar to the Office of Renewable Energy Siting. To track progress on the application please visit here. Prior to the application submittal, a 3-day NOI was sent to all owners of residences within 1-mile of the project facility, as well any and all applicable lawmakers and municipalities. Ads were also placed in the Daily Gazette, Amsterdam Recorder and Gloversville Leader-Herald. A copy of the notice is available here. For additional information, including how to apply for Local Agency Account, please review the information on this website.  

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Foothills Solar Farm is a 40 MW project located in the Town and Village of Mayfield, in the County of Fulton. The project will be ground-mounted and developed on separate parcels of land.

The project will include solar arrays and other project features such as access roads, switching station, and an electrical interconnection to the National Grid 69 kV transmission line. The project was originated in 2021 by Boralex.

The project aligns with the New York State Public Service Commission’s Clean Energy Standard, which supports the development of clean energy and renewable resources in New York State (NYS). The Foothills Solar Project has been chosen as part of the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) 2021 solicitation for Tier-1 eligible renewable energy certificates. This a significant milestone in the development of the project, as it begins a process for Boralex and NYSERDA to execute an agreement to purchase the renewable energy that will be generated at the facility.

PERMITTING PROCESS

Currently in  development, the facility is expected to be commissioned in 2026.

If you would like to follow the proceedings in the Foothills Solar 94-c Application, you may do so by subscribing to the service list of the case (Foothills Solar, Permit Application Number 23-00046).  By subscribing the service list, you will receive email notifications with links to documents filed by the parties in the 94-c Application proceedings, such as correspondences, orders, notices, rulings and formal comments.  Instructions on how to register for the service list are provided in the Permit Application Portal Registration & User Guide available on the ORES website.  Interested parties can track the Foothills Solar Permit via the ORES website. 

ORES may be contacted by phone, email, written letter, or via an online contact form on the ORES website. Phone: (518) 473-4590; Email: general@ores.ny.gov. 

Mailing Information (letters and envelopes):  

Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) 

 c/o: OGS Mailroom

Empire State Plaza

P-1 South, J Dock

Albany, NY 12242  

Boralex has begun to engage with the local community (e.g. landowners, town, village and county representatives, state officials, school districts and other groups of interest) and will pursue this consultation process throughout all phases of development and operations.

Environmental and permitting activities began in late 2021 and will be governed under the new 94-c permitting process through the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES). Environmental field surveys and studies completed and planned for the site, include: breeding and winter bird surveys, wetland field surveys, archeological studies, noise and visual studies, geotechnical assessments and electrical resistivity, as well as other environmental and technical studies. These studies and surveys are required as part of the regulatory application process described below.

Permitting activities are expected to span throughout 2022 and 2023, with our 94-c application submission anticipated in late 2023. Boralex recently filed its 60-Day Notice of Intent (NOI) to File an Application, which was sent to nearby residences and ran in The Daily Gazette, The Gloversville Leader-Herald and The Amsterdam Recorder. A copy of the NOI is available here. (Boralex formally submitted its application on 12/4/23.)

All project infrastructure will be situated in such a manner as to respect municipal, state, and federal regulations, as well as taking into consideration feedback from residents and other stakeholders.

PROJECT BENEFITS

The project offers economic, social, and environmental benefits locally and to the State of New York and:

• Create approximately 50 jobs during construction

• Create long-term jobs to support operations

• Boost local economy and add commerce for local businesses during the construction and the operation

• Provide significant tax revenues to the Town and Village of Mayfield, Fulton County, and to local school districts

• Provide quiet, emission free, reliable power to NYS for the equivalent of approximately 10,000-12,000 households per year

• Help NYS achieve its goal of 70% clean power generation by 2030

  To learn more about solar generation and its benefits, click here.

PROCESS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS

The Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth and Community Benefit Act (the “Act”) was passed in April 2020 as part of the enacted state budget. The provision added a new section to the Executive Law, titled Major Renewable Energy Development (“94-c”), which is intended to establish a review process with uniform permit standards for New York State renewable energy projects in place of the procedures set forth in Article 10 of the Public Service Law (“Article 10”).

The Act created a newly established Office of Renewable Energy Siting (“ORES”), within the New York State Department of State, as part of the 94-c process, to provide a central forum for the environmental review and permitting of proposed major renewable energy facilities, includes those with a nameplate generating capacity of 25 megawatts (MW) or more, co-located energy storage systems, and electric transmission lines less than 10 miles in length.

The Foothills Solar project will be subject to the regulations outlined in the 94-c process and Boralex intends to make an application for the Project to ORES in 2023.

OPEN HOUSE

Boralex will hold public open houses as development continues. Boards from our first Open House in February 2023 can be found here. Boards from ourJuly 26, 2023 60-day meeting are available here. 

DOCUMENTS

Once filed, the application may be examined during normal business hours at the Office of Renewable Energy Siting and the following public libraries, in accordance with section 900-1.6.(a)(6) of Regulation 94-c. Hard copies of related project documents will also be available at the following sites: 

Mayfield Town Hall and Mayfield Village Hall 

28 North School Street, Mayfield, NY 12117

Gloversville Public Library 

58 East Fulton Street, Gloversville, NY 12078.

Pursuant to 19 NYCRR 900-5, Foothills Solar will submit with the Application $1,000 dollars for each MW of capacity for local agencies and potential intervenors, which for this project totals $40,000.

Any local agency or potential community intervenor can submit a request to the Office for funding with thirty (30) days of the date of the application filing. 75% of the local agency account funds shall be reserved for local agencies. Intervenor requests can be made to: the Office of Renewable Energy Siting, Attn: Request for Local Agency Account Funding, 99 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12231-0001

CONTACT

For more information please contact our team:

Mike Peckford, (902) 670-7562, mike.peckford@boralex.com

Megan Stewart, (385) 232-0556, megan.stewart@boralex.com

Members of the media, please contact Zack Hutchins, (518) 727-6155, zachary.hutchins@boralex.com