SAXTONS RIVER, Vt. – After a recent Rockingham Selectboard meeting, in which the board voiced its support of a proposed solar energy project on a section of land next to Corey Hill Road in Saxtons River, the plans proposed by Green Lantern Solar to build a 500-kilowatt array in a cornfield owned by the Stickney family is moving forward.
“The proposed solar array has been vetted by both the planning commission and the selectboard, and has been designated as a preferred site,” Bellows Falls Town Manager Scott Pickup said in a recent interview. “The State of Vermont also has additional regulatory reviews, and that is scheduled to be heard sometime in July.”
The project had previously gained “preferred” status when the Rockingham Planning Commission had given its approval in March to the Vermont Public Utility Commission, which will hopefully lead to a section 248 permit (or certificate of public good) later in the year. Acquiring a “preferred” status is an important, financial benefit for any solar project.
Based in Waterbury, Vt., Green Lantern Solar (GLS) has built more than 100 solar arrays across Vermont since 2014. GLS’s director of development Sam Carlson recently stated that the Stickney family, who are multigeneration farmers in Rockingham, are interested in utilizing a three-acre section of a cornfield for the solar array.
“Saxtons River GLS-VT Solar, LLC is a 500-kilowatt solar array proposed to be developed at 2 Corey Hill Road, right on the border between Saxtons River Village and the Town of Rockingham,” Carlson said in a recent interview. “The array would occupy 3.2 acres in the northwest corner of the 21-acre parcel, and existing trees would block both public and private views of the array to the south, west, and southeast.”
The Trustees of Saxtons River Village, the aforementioned Rockingham Selectboard, the Rockingham Planning Commission, and the Windham County Regional Planning Commission have all voted to approve the solar development project.
“Green Mountain Power has also conducted an extensive feasibility study of the impact of this solar project on the electrical grid, and determined that this solar array poses no risk to the grid,” Carlson said.
It is anticipated that GLS will submit its formal application for a certificate of public good to the public utility commission before the end of July, which will also trigger the review of the project by the Agency of Natural Resources, Public Service Department, and Agency of Agriculture and Markets.
“If the certificate of public good is officially awarded by the public utility commission, construction of the solar project would likely start in late spring of 2024,” Carlson concluded.