The virtual public hearings on the Riverhead Solar 2 proposed 36 megawatt solar energy facility in Calverton scheduled to take place today have been postponed, according to a notice filed on the project docket on the State Department of Public Service website yesterday.
The postponement comes after the developer filed notice with the state agency that it intends to transfer its application to the Office of Renewable Energy Siting, a new office created by legislation in the state budget package passed in April.
The developer’s notice was filed on the public docket on Wednesday, Nov. 25, before the start of the long holiday weekend.
The Department of Public Service has not made a public announcement of the postponement, but it did send notices to people who had registered to speak at one of the virtual public hearings.
The new Office of Renewable Energy Siting was created by the Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth and Community Benefit Act, which aims to “dramatically speed up the siting and construction of major renewable energy projects to combat climate change and help jumpstart the state’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The act and regulations currently being implemented will expedite the approval process for major renewable energy projects, defined as all large-scale, renewable energy projects larger than 25 megawatts.
New major projects will be required to apply to the Office of Renewable Energy Siting rather than the Electric Generating Siting Board, which had jurisdiction to review them under existing state law.
Applications like Riverhead Solar 2, already under review by Electric Generating Siting Board, may be transferred to the new Office of Renewable Energy Siting at the option of the applicant.
The governor in September announced draft regulations under the new law, which are currently in a public comment period that ends Dec. 7.
“The act and the resulting regulations will also accelerate progress toward the governor’s nation-leading clean energy and climate goals – including the directive to obtain 70% of the state’s electricity from renewable sources – as mandated under the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act,” Cuomo said in a Sept. 16 press release.
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