HARTFORD – Over the past decade, 1,500 acres of farms and landscapes in East Windsor have been transformed into extensive aluminum-framed, glass-encased solar panels outfitted with semiconductors and copper wires, leading to at least two fires last March and September.
Solar photovoltaic facilities — known as solar farms, which are proliferating across the state — are helping Connecticut meet its goals for renewable energy production.
With the recent approval of the expansion site, East Windsor is expected to generate approximately 170 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 34,000 homes. But solar farms are encroaching on communities. Developers backed by private equity funds are clearing forest land. On sunny days, solar farms can make a loud buzzing noise that disturbs neighbors.
More solar panels are planned for East Windsor, which covers 26 square miles and has a population of about 11,440 people. Democratic first selectman Jason Bowsza is too delirious to stop solar power. Without some kind of local control, it will be difficult for state and city officials to prevent further property acquisitions and solar development. “It’s so frustrating,” Bosa said Friday afternoon, recalling conversations with two key legislative committees this month.
But a bipartisan group of state lawmakers has joined him in using solar farm expansion, fires and noise to slow things down.
At least five related bills aimed at improving the safety of solar farms and energy storage sites have been advanced in the Assembly committee process, including a controversial plan for a new Milford battery facility within two miles of downtown.
Another bill recently passed by the environment committee would require regular testing of soil at photovoltaic power plants. A third bill would upgrade fire reporting. Two other pieces of legislation would change the composition of Connecticut’s Site Selection Commission, which reviews proposed locations for energy facilities.
“I’m asking for your help,” Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, told the Legislative Environment Committee on legislation requiring regular soil testing at solar farms. . “The number of solar panels in our neighborhood has exploded over the past decade. We don’t know what the long-term effects of rainwater running through all those panels will be.”
Kissel, first elected in 1992, said there are questions about the environmental impact of solar farms as many residents rely on well water and the number of solar farms continues to grow. “We just don’t know the long-term effects of these solar arrays,” Kissel said. “The last thing my constituents want is contamination of the water table.”
“This is a fight we’ve been fighting for a long time,” said senior Republican state Rep. Carol Hall, whose district includes half of Enfield and half of East Windsor. “We lost a lot of farmland and forest,” she said in an interview Friday. “We have to make the siting of solar farms equitable across the state. Safety bills are important, but the real answer is to start regulating where these things go. We want to see them in industrial areas. They take over the landscape and completely change it. It’s just a mess.”
“East Windsor has had enough,” said Rep. Jamie Foster, D-Ellington, a member of the Energy and Technology Committee. “Right now, there’s almost no benefit locally. They’ve done their fair share. Thirty percent of the state’s renewable energy mix is energy generated in East Windsor. People say their ears are ringing from sunup to sundown because of the inverters,” which have a buzz of about 30 decibels. At a minimum, homeowners should put up green barriers between their properties and solar farms, she said
“We give solar a green halo, but the reality is anything that’s electrically charged has the potential to catch fire,” Foster said.
“Recognizing that emergency or safety issues with energy generation systems are relatively rare, and as the state continues to expand these resources, clear safety and reporting standards are critical to protecting surrounding communities, first responders and taxpayers,” Claire Coleman, the state’s consumer counsel, said in prepared testimony on the proposed safety improvements.
“The Connecticut Site Selection Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over the construction, maintenance and operation of energy and telecommunications infrastructure throughout the state,” Melanie Bachman, executive director of the Site Selection Commission, wrote in a letter to state lawmakers. “It balances the need for consumers to receive adequate and reliable service at the lowest reasonable cost with the need to protect the state’s environment and ecology through a quasi-judicial public hearing process.” Bachman proposed redrafting of the safety and fire protection proposals.
Testimony submitted by Francis Pollaro, president of RENEW Northeast, a nonprofit trade group representing renewable energy companies, said the fire-related bill was legally and technically flawed.
“This gives local fire marshals and commissions unfettered discretion, will produce inconsistent results across jurisdictions, and lowers the threshold for regulatory intervention well below any reasonable standard of proportionality,” Pollaro wrote in a recent letter to the Legislative Public Safety and Security Committee. Pollaro called the safe storage bill vague and unpredictable.
Mike Trahan, executive director of the Connecticut Solar Storage Association, said in testimony about the fire-related bill that solar farm-related fires are rare, with “reported incident rates typically below 0.03 percent per installation per year,” he wrote in testimony before the Public Safety and Security Committee.
The town of Bowsza spent $100,000 in an unsuccessful legal battle to block more solar farms. For Bowsza, the key may be legislation to expand the membership of the site selection committee to include experts with city government experience. Legislation is also needed for towns that reach a certain generation limit to limit further projects.
Bowsza suggested a possible statewide solar quota system in which all projects, including the square footage of private rooftop solar collectors, would be totaled and a formula created as a guideline for solar expansion. “That way every town can participate,” Bosa said. “There are many ways to do this so everyone can play a role. Renewable energy conflicts with our goal of protecting farmland. We can’t pretend to be agriculture-friendly in the state right now.”
Later this month, Bosa and state lawmakers hope to take Gov. Ned Lamont on a tour of all the town’s solar farms.
This article was originally published on Connecticut solar farm fire delays facility expansion.
