BY PAUL MITCHELL
North Country This Week

CANTON – EDF Renewables, the solar company constructing the Rich Road Solar Energy Center in the Town of Canton, has filed a 60-day notification required before filing their permit application.

Jack Honor, development manager for EDF Renewables, said the 240 megawatt solar project with 20 megawatt energy storage is expected to be completed in 2025/2026.

“We plan to file the permit application in mid December. A requirement of the permit filing is a 6-day notice to residents with one mile,” said Honor. “For transparency and public education purposes, the town asked that we send the notices to all residents in the town and we agreed.”

The notice was also published in North Country This Week.

A second notice is also required three days before filing the permit application. Once the permit is filed, the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) will begin its review for completeness, Honor noted.

“Projects typically take around 4 to 6 months to be deemed complete,” he stated. “We anticipate the permitting process, from filing to approval, to be a little more than one year.”

Throughout the permitting process there will be ample opportunity for public comment, including a public statement hearing, he continued.

“In the spirit of public participation, we’ve already held two open house meetings and have been conducting regular monthly meetings with the Town of Canton to collaborate on design elements and discuss the application,” said Honor.

EDF Renewables representatives have also met with a number of local stakeholders to discuss the project and get feedback. Entities include the St. Lawrence County Planning office, Emergency Services, St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency (IDA), all local fire departments, SUNY Canton and the Canton Central School District, Honor said.

The project was awarded a contract with NYSERDA earlier this year resulting from their annual Large Scale Renewables procurement.

According to Honor the project is anticipated to create 250 union and prevailing wage construction jobs and contribute $30 million in revenue to local taxing jurisdictions over the life of the project.