Despite the New York Power Authority including the planned Ridge View Solar and Storage project in Hartland in its strategic renewables plan, town Supervisor Margaret Zaepfel said she’s still working to keep it from moving forward.
“The people overwhelmingly don’t want this power project in the town,” said Zaepfel, who was elected in 2023 on a campaign that opposed the planned array. “They made it known by voting me in.”
Since Zaepfel was sworn into office in 2024, along with anti-solar town board members Sean Walp and Elizabeth Neadow, the town has created a focus group that has gathered concerns and support from residents on the solar issue. Moratoriums were in place on any new developments for most of the year.
In November 2024, the town passed an updated zoning law that banned industrial-scale solar facilities and battery storage projects, capping coverage of a single array at 10 acres and placing greater setbacks from property lines, public roads, schools and parks.
Ridge View Solar was one of many new projects added to NYPA’s updated renewable development plan, unveiled toward the end of July. It increases the planned output from newly built renewable power plants in New York from 3 GW to 7 GW.
The listed plans indicate that NYPA would co-develop this facility with EDF Renewables, an American subsidiary of the multinational energy company EDF. The 350 MW facility would be spread out over 2,000 acres of leased land and generate enough electricity for 90,000 households.
Project Manager Kevin Campbell said EDF responded to a request for qualifications that NYPA put out, looking for additional renewable energy projects. They have not made a formal agreement on participating in this state plan.
“It’s still at a discovery stage,” Campbell said. “They haven’t made a commitment to the project yet at this point.”
Zaepfel said she has since had meetings with Campbell and the state Office of Renewable Energy Siting, asking them to remove Ridge View Solar from the list.
“The state constitution says the state has no business getting into land use,” Zaepfel said, with the town only having one industrially-zoned parcel and the majority being zoned for agricultural use. “Until they change it to where they take it away, I ask that they don’t get involved in any way.”
Zaepfel is also opposed to this because the town’s location near Lake Ontario, though not directly on its shoreline, could lead to contamination should any materials from inside the panels leak out. The ban on battery storage systems seeks to remove the chance of battery fires.
Despite the opposition from town leadership, EDF is still trying to move the solar project forward. Ridge View’s website said it plans to start operating in 2029, though the NYPA strategic renewables plan says it will be complete by the fourth quarter of 2031.
Seventy families and businesses have signed agreements leasing land to the array. The potential amount from PILOT and community host agreement funds to the town, county, and Royalton-Hartland school district, among other entities, according to Campbell, comes to around $2 million a year.
“There’s a lot of benefits to landowners and the people in the community who want it to go forward,” Campbell said.