Huge solar project in Barre, Shelby will pay $900K to towns, school districts and county

Barre, Shelby wanted higher share, but settle on 40 percent

Map from AES: The 200 megawatt solar project in Barre and Shelby would be along Crane, Townline and Burns roads near the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge.

BARRE – A 200 megawatt solar project in Barre and Shelby will bring $900,000 annually in revenue to local governments, to be shared among two towns, three school districts and Orleans County.

The Orleans Economic Development Agency negotiated the host community agreement for the Hemlock Ridge Solar, discussions that started about 2 ½ years ago among the municipal leaders.

AES, owner of Hemlock Ridge, has agreed to pay $4,500 per megawatt to local governments or $900,000 total the first year, which is expected to be 2026. The amount will increase 2 percent after that. AES is hoping to start construction next summer on Hemlock Ridge with the project operational in 2026. The project is along Crane Road, Townline Road, and Burns Road about 5 miles southeast of Medina.

Typically, the Orleans EDA works out PILOT agreements (payment in lieu of taxes) and the local governments’ share is based on their tax rates. The school districts tend to have the highest tax rates and they get the largest amount among the towns and county in a typical PILOT.

But with Hemlock Ridge the entities agreed to not do a PILOT and base the revenue sharing on their tax rates. In that scenario, the towns would get the least of the revenue because their tax rates are less than the schools districts and county.

The host community agreement gives the two towns 40 percent of the total revenue, but Barre and Shelby wanted more.

The host community agreement hasn’t been made fully public, detailing the amounts for all the governments.

The Barre Town Board on Wednesday voted to accept its share. The project is 82 percent in the Town of Barre and 18 percent in Shelby. The towns together get 40 percent of the revenue or $360,000 the first year the project is operational.

Barre will get 82 percent of the money for the two towns or $295,200, while Shelby gets the other 18 percent or $64,800.

The two towns argued they should receive more than 40 percent because they are dealing with the impacts of the project and have done more work with the developer in siting it.

Barre with the Heritage Wind project will receive 75 percent of the local revenue through that host community agreement.

“We fought like hell but they wouldn’t budge,” Kathy Bennett, the Shelby town attorney, said about the county and school districts.

The Shelby Town Board is expected to finalize the agreement next month. The town also needs to sign a road use agreement during the construction phase of the project.

The Town of Barre also sought more funding, but town attorney Bridget O’Toole said the school districts and county wouldn’t go above 40 percent for the two towns.

“It was a very contentious negotiation with a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” she said after Wednesday’s Town Board meeting.

The County Legislature on Sept. 24 approved its share of the project, with the county amount varying on whether the solar panels are in the Albion, Medina or Oakfield-Alabama school districts.

The county will receive $1,008.90 per megawatt within the Albion school district (22.4 percent of total), $744.83 per megawatt within Oakfield-Alabama district (16.6 percent of the total), and $935.19 per megawatt for the project within Medina school district (20.8 percent).

The school districts, based on the county share and the 40 percent to the two towns, would get the following: 37.6 percent to Albion for the area in ACS; 43.4 percent of Oakfield-Alabama for the land in the project in that district; and 39.2 percent to Medina school district for the area in that district.

After 10 years, another $500 per megawatt will be added to host community agreement and that additional $100,000 a year will go to the two towns with Barre getting 82 percent, O’Toole said.