By ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

CANTON – After lengthy moratorium on commercial solar farm development in the town, the Canton town board has passed a law which will govern how those types of facilities will be allowed, sited, and managed.

The board has been working on structuring a comprehensive code to regulate solar energy facilities in the town for almost a year and a half.

The 11-page law can be viewed on the town’s website at https://bit.ly/2kCmuM5.

Prior to passing the law at the town board meeting Wednesday, Sept. 11, the board reviewed and approved the findings of a State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) study concerning the law, which determined it would have no ill effects to the community or environment.

Several public hearings on the solar law have been held during the moratorium which began in July 2018.

The board will now send the law to the Department of State to make it official.

At the meeting Sept. 11, town board members briefly discussed the process of establishing a volunteer solar facility siting committee.

A source close to the municipality has said that there are several commercial solar developers with interest in constructing large scale solar energy facilities around Canton.

Prior to passage of the law last week, Town Councilman Phil LaMarche abstained from the vote, stating that he has had a developer approach him about constructing a solar farm on his land.

The new law will deal specifically with commercial-scale developments and does not apply to solar panels and solar energy equipment located at a private residence, on a roof or a legally permitted building or structure “for the purpose of producing electricity primarily for on-site consumption.”

The law defines the type of solar project in question as commercial scale construction or installation of any photovoltaic solar panel, electrical energy storage devices, material hardware, inverters, conduit or other electrical equipment associated with the production or transmission of electrical energy.

The new law also does not prevent National Grid from conducting its regular business of providing electrical service and maintaining its equipment. Nor would it have any bearing on the development of the Tesla solar farm constructed in the old drive-in this past year which will supply the village of Canton with a lower electric bill through a grid intertie inverter arrangement with National Grid.

Notably the law offers protections for property owners and residents who may be affected by construction of a large-scale commercial solar development in some way.

Several local municipalities are drafting similar laws governing commercial solar developments.