Residents asked questions and shared opinions with the project manager of a new solar farm at the Harpersfield Town Planning Board meeting Wednesday, July 31.
The project is the third solar farm plan that has been proposed for placement on the Eklund farm property since January.
Joe Seman-Graves, developer at BlueWave Solar, said that the 5.3 megawatt solar array would be located on nearly 35 acres of land on Bruce Hill Road.
The town planning board has approved two other solar power projects on the north and west side of the property.
The proposed third project is on the eastern slope of the property facing the town and village of Stamford.
One resident, who refused to give her name to The Daily Star, stated her concerns about transportation to the solar site on a road that is used frequently for transporting farming equipment.
Seman-Graves said that this would be an issue for the road work agreement, one of the adjustments being made to the project to address the board’s concerns.
He said that the through road for equipment to the site would be from Odell Lake Road to Peters Road to Bruce Hill Road.
Harpersfield resident Andrew Schaffer said that he was concerned about the longevity of the solar farm and whether the company would continue to see the project through, even in a year with low energy production.
“There are so many solar farms that you see out there that go under after two, three years and are defunct,” he said.
Seman-Graves said that the bond with the municipality is very thorough.
“This bond is very line-item detailed,” he said. “We could leave, we could go away as a company, but that bond is named with the town, so no matter what happens to us, that money is going to be in that account for the town to use.”
A resident, who refused to give her name publicly, stated concerns about the longevity of the solar panels themselves and what would happen if they are damaged.
Seman-Graves said that the panels are 75% glass, which is easy to recycle. He said that the panels drop slightly in efficiency after 50-60 years, and when they do, they are donated, not disposed.
The same resident voiced concerns regarding the potential fire hazard posed by the panels.
Seman-Graves said that the company runs a fire safety course with the local fire department to ensure that if anything were to go wrong, the department would be able to respond accordingly.
He said that the solar farm would not be using any batteries, which are often the source of fire-related incidents.
He said that there are sensors on the panels which notify the company when a panel goes down or if it is functioning at less than 100%.
“If there is an issue, we don’t want exposed electrical with power, so that gets turned off automatically,” he said.
The BlueWave project planning phase is ongoing.
A public hearing for a proposed cell tower that would be placed by Verizon is scheduled for the town planning board’s next meeting Wednesday, Aug. 28.