Planned solar farm in Columbia County drops battery strategy

• Hecate's proposed Sheperd's Run plant has obtained smaller sized

The programmer recommending a 60 megawatt solar farm in Columbia County has downsized its strategies, claiming that in response to public input, they are removing the battery storage part of the project.

The news web cam about a month after Hecate Energy also stated they would certainly decrease the Sheperd's Run project footprint from 500 acres to 360 acres.

" Hecate Energy wants the citizens of Copake to recognize we are paying attention to their sights and point of views, and that we value working with the area to site as well as create the best feasible project," Alex Campbell, the project's lead developer, claimed in a recent statement.

" While we can not constantly satisfy every request, we mean for the removal of the battery part and reduction of size by over 25 percent to demonstrate our good faith with the community."

According to Campbell, the changes in the Copake project will certainly not minimize the previously dedicated $5 million to $7 million in new revenues for the school, local governments, and initial responders the project promises to supply.

They also intend to get in touch with conservation easements that provide accessibility to the Harlem Valley Rail Trail (HVRT).

The project has actually drawn resistance from some locals who fear the solar development can hurt tourism in the Copake location. The project would be situated off Route 23.

"People come up right here to see the corn fields and also the rolling hillsides," Darin Johnson, of the group Sensible Solar, claimed in a recent meeting. Relating to the going down of the battery selection, Johnson in an email claimed his group thinks the project is still also large as well as should be closer to 10 acres in dimension.