County planners approve solar, battery storage moratoriums in Town of Albion

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 January 2025 at 9:34 am

Shelby seeks more time for wind energy regulations

Photo by Tom Rivers: The 17-member Orleans County Planning Board met for the first time this year on Thursday in the legislative chambers at the Orleans County Administration Building. The board re-elected Brian Napoli of Ridgeway as chairman and Dan Strong of Carlton as the vice chairman.

ALBION – The Town of Albion is working on updating regulations for larger solar projects and also wants an ordinance for battery storage utilities.

The Orleans County Planning Board on Thursday backed six-month moratoriums in Albion for constructions of commercial solar farms and construction of battery storage utilities.

Albion has three commercial solar farms under construction and another one has been approved. Dan Strong, a member of the County Planning Board, said Albion wants to address “some glitches and holes” in its ordinance and have an option for host fees to allow the town to receive a larger percentage of the revenue for the projects. Right now with a PILOT the revenue is shared in thirds among the town, school district and county.

The town approved regulations for solar farms in 2017.

The Albion Town Board has scheduled public hearings on the moratoriums for 5 p.m. on Feb. 10. During a moratorium no applications shall be considered or processed by the town while it works to update or write its ordinances.

The town currently doesn’t have any battery storage utilities, including among the four commercial solar projects, Strong said.

Albion approved regulations for battery storage systems in 2021, but wants to update those, he said.

The Planning Board on Thursday also gave its OK for a six-month extension of a moratorium in Shelby on wind energy systems. The Planning Board approved a six-month moratorium in July 2024, but the town wants more time to go through and approve the regulations.

Kirk Myhill, the Shelby Planning Board chairman, said the Planning Board has made its recommendation to the Town Board, which is now reviewing the ordinance.

During the moratorium, town officials will suspend any permitting, processing, interpreting or deliberating upon wind energy projects and wind energy overlay districts.