Solar projects are continuing to dominate discussions of the Chautauqua County Planning Board.

Matt Bourke with the county’s Department of Planning, recently discussed the number of solar projects that have come before the Planning Board.

He noted that in 2021, there were 15 large scale solar arrays reviewed: four in Pomfret, three in Sheridan, two in Hanover, two in Portland, one in Busti, one in the town of Chautauqua, one in Ripley and one in Stockton. The majority of the projects are around 5 megawatts. The 15 projects combined total around 80 megawatts and are planned to be placed on 400 acres of land, 255 which are agricultural acres. By comparison, the single large scale South Ripley Solar Project is 270 megawatts and is planned to be placed on 1,250 to 11,500 acres of land.

Along with the 15 proposed solar projects, in 2021 there were seven new local solar laws enacted.

“Some of these were brand new laws, some of these were updates,” said Bourke. Those laws were put in place in the towns of Harmony, Stockton, Carroll, Ripley, Westfield, Clymer and Dunkirk.

Depending on the municipality, Bourke said the laws targeted visual screening, visual impact analysis, and agricultural protection.

According to Bourke, the majority of municipalities in the county now have large scale solar laws in place. Towns that do not have a large scale solar law include: Mina, French Creek, Arkwright, Cherry Creek, Elllington and Poland.

Ellery and Harmony are currently updating their solar laws.

The other 18 towns do. This list does not include villages or cities.

Rebecca Wurster with the county Planning Department, said the Farmland Protection Board is working on a template for municipalities to use for requirements for decommissioning when the solar projects are no longer operational. “(The goal is) there will be recycling facilities and we’ll be able to keep those out of our landfills and more of the solar fields will be able to be recycled for materials,” she said.

During the board meeting, a member asked if there is an industry saturation for solar projects in a community. Board Chairman Doug Bowman called that “the thousand dollar question.”

Bowman said he personally is in favor of allowing owners to do with their land what they choose, however “there’s going to be a cumulative effect to all these project going in, but it’s too soon to tell what the effect is going to be.”