Last week, the Register-Star reported that the NYS Office of Renewable Energy Siting had granted a draft permit to Hecate Energy to build and operate the controversial 255-acre, 60-megawatt Shepherd's Run solar farm at Routes 23 and 7 in the Town of Copake: "Shepherd's Run draft permit approved."
Yesterday, Dave Lucas did a story about the project on WAMC: "Shepherd's Run solar farm moving ahead in Copake." It's worth listening to (or reading), if you haven't already done so.
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| Site of the Shepherd's Run solar farm Photo: Deb Hall, Copake |
This WAMC is disappointing because it is somewhat misleading in that it does NOT clearly state how many attempts the Town of Copake has made to communicate with Hecate management. The Town has reached out more than 15 times and been ignored or rebuffed. THIS IS A SIGNIFICANT FACT which is consistently not reported in many places. "Friends of Solar" (from Copake) does NOT represent the Town of Copake at all ! If anything, the viewpoint of "Sensible Solar" most closely aligns with the official views of the Town of Copake as expressed by the Town Board.
ReplyDeleteColumbia County has weather that is cloudy more than it is sunny during a year, statistically. These solar farms are ugly, ruin the landscape, and they are not good at producing power.
ReplyDeleteSolar power is 20 % efficient, wind power is 40% efficient, and hydropower is 90% efficient. The county used to have multiple factories run by hydropower and even had an electric light rail system powered the Falls in Stuyvesant.
Perhaps the Green movement should look into it. The power sources are already here, and so are the clouds and moisture. We could have free electricity.