State officials to discuss town’s funding request for sPower application review: Conference set in Riverhead Nov. 8

A conference has been scheduled for Nov. 8 on the application of sPower to build a 36 MW solar generating facility on 290 acres in Calverton.

The conference, to be held before a pair of administrative law judges beginning at 5 p.m. at the county center legislative auditorium, will deal with the request for intervenor funds made by the Town of Riverhead to help it defray costs of reviewing the application.

Riverhead Town, as the municipality where the facility will be sited if approved by the state board on electric generation siting, is a qualified intervenor in the proceeding and entitled to seek funds to help pay the costs of its review. The town is seeking $12,600 in intervenor funding. The funding would cover staff time as well as 30 hours of work by environmental consultant Jeffrey Seeman, according to a document filed by town attorney Robert Kozakiewicz on Oct. 24.

Since the size of the proposed Riverhead Solar-2 facility exceeds 25 MW, review and permitting jurisdiction rests exclusively with the state, under legislation that took effect in 2011. The other solar facilities in Riverhead were reviewed and approved by the town. The energy company does not even have to obtain a building permit from the town for this new facility. The town’s role in the state permitting process is limited to commenting on the application.

The Utah-based solar energy producer sPower in initial documents filed with the State Department of Public Service said the proposed 36 MW solar farm in Calverton will produce enough electricity to power 8,500 homes.

The company is seeking to connect the new facility to a LIPA substation on the east side of Edwards Avenue by way of a generation tie line it says will run parallel to a tie line approved last year by the Riverhead Planning Board for sPower’s 20 MW solar facility.

An easement in the town-owned Edwards Avenue to allow that tie line to be buried under the roadway is still being negotiated, according to town officials, who have voiced objection to any structures being placed within that easement for the new facility.

The tie line was part of the planning board’s approval of the “Riverhead Solar 1” facility. But whether sPower can use that tie line and easement for the “Riverhead Solar 2” facility is an unanswered question. Both the SEQRA findings statement adopted by the planning board last October and the preliminary site plan approval granted by the planning board in June explicitly limit use of the generation tie line crossing Edwards Avenue to the 20 MW facility only.

The day after the planning board accepted sPower’s environmental impact statement for the 20 MW facility, the company filed its plan for the 36 MW facility with the state.

The Riverhead Planning Board last month adopted a resolution requiring sPower to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement for the 20 MW facility to address cumulative impacts of both facilities.

“The SEQRA process asked sPower to identify any other projects that may have an impact on the sPower one project,” Riverhead Planning Board Chairman Stan Carey said last month. “On several occasions the planning board directly asked sPower representatives about the gen-tie lines and the need for any empty conduits,” he said.

“This can be confirmed by reviewing the Dec. 15, 2016, Jan. 19, 2017 and Oct. 19, 2017 planning board minutes,” Carey said.

“The planning board was told no other project would use the gen-tie line,” he said.

In a letter to the siting board dated Oct. 23, sPower project manager Derek Kremser said the company wants to “clarify” that it is not seeking to use the same tie line for the new facility. Rather it is proposing a separate 34.5 kilovolt
generation tie line to connect the Riverhead Solar-2 facility with the substation.

“The RIV-2 gen-tie line would run parallel to a similar gen-tie line previously approved for the 20 megawatt Riverhead Solar 1 facility,” Kremser said in the letter. “The RIV-2 gen-tie line would connect the RIV-2 facility to a collector substation that will be built at the same time and as part of the RIV-1 solar farm… A separate easement and a separate physical 34.5 kV gen-tie line would be constructed for RIV-2,” he wrote.

Last month the planning board also asked the building department to suspend any building permits for sPower’s 20 MW facility pending completion of the supplemental environmental impact statement.

So far the building department hasn’t acted on that request, Carey said this morning.