Siting Board Denies Petitions for Rehearing

340 MW Clean Energy Alle-Catt Wind to Bring Over $44.2 Million to Local Economy

101 MW Deer River Wind Projected to Bring Over $24 Million to Local Economy

Local Governments Receive PILOT Payments, Host Towns Receive Community Benefits

ALBANY — The New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment (Siting Board) today reaffirmed its approval of Alle-Catt Wind Energy LLC to build and operate a wind farm in Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Wyoming counties, and it reaffirmed its approval of Atlantic Wind, LLC to build and operate the Deer River wind farm in Lewis and Jefferson counties. The Siting Board’s decision to deny petitions for rehearing follows a determination that both wind farms meet or exceed all siting requirements.

“These rulings affirm that the Siting Board was correct in its earlier approval of the Alle-Catt and Deer River wind projects,” said Siting Board Chair John B. Rhodes. “Appropriately sited wind farms, such as these two projects, provide clean and renewable energy as well as local economic benefits, and are essential as we continue on the road toward a zero-carbon emission electric sector by 2040.”

The 340 MW Alle-Catt wind project will be the State’s largest wind farm. It will consist of up to 116 wind turbines, in the Towns of Arcade, Centerville, Farmersville, Freedom, and Rushford. The facility will be located on approximately 30,000 acres of privately leased land and will enable landowners to continue with existing land uses.

The project will provide economic benefits by creating direct jobs, will generate revenues for local governments through payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreements, and will provide revenues for participating landowners through lease and other agreements. As described by the developer, the $454 million project would have a positive economic impact on the host communities, including a construction workforce of approximately 182 jobs with a payroll of $15 million, and will provide up to 13 permanent jobs during the operation of the facility.

Alle-Catt estimates the project will result in a significant increase to the local taxable property base. In the first year, the wind farm estimates $7 million in direct economic benefits to host communities for the PILOT, host community agreement payments, fire district taxes, and participating leaseholder payments. Once operational, Alle-Catt says it will pay more than $2.7 million annually to local landowners over the life of the project through annual lease payments. Overall, Alle-Catt estimates that annual property tax and tax-related payments include PILOT and host community agreement payments, and up to $3.2 million in local property taxes over the life of the project.

In the Alle-Catt proceeding, petitions for rehearing were submitted by Town of Farmersville and the Coalition of Concerned Citizens. The Town’s petition argued that the Siting Board failed to apply two substantive local laws that would have restricted development of the wind farm. The citizens’ group argued that the Siting Board failed to address the impact on the local Amish community, in addition to failing to consider other adverse impacts. After careful consideration of the rehearing petitions, the Siting Board reaffirmed the initial decision.

The 101 MW Deer River project will consist of 25 wind turbines located in the Towns of Pinckney and Harrisburg. According to Deer River’s developer, the 101 MW project is expected to create 115 construction jobs, and opportunities for local construction and construction supply vendors as well as five permanent, full-time jobs. It is expected to generate more than $500,000 annually in direct lease, easement and neighbor agreement payments to landowners ($15 million over 30 years), up to $800,000 annually in increased revenues to municipalities to help defray costs for schools, public safety and county services ($24 million over 30 years), and $3 million estimated project spending on local goods and services during development and construction.

In the Deer River proceeding, the developer Atlantic Wind sought a rehearing with respect to two aspects of the post-construction noise monitoring protocols adopted by the Siting Board. Based on the record in this proceeding, the Siting Board declined to modify the sound testing compliance protocol adopted in the initial order. However, it did clarify that there must be four valid samples within an 8-hour testing period and that the four samples need not be consecutive.

New York State's Nation-Leading Climate Plan

Governor Cuomo's nation-leading climate agenda is the most aggressive climate and clean energy initiative in the nation, calling for an orderly and just transition to clean energy that creates jobs and continues fostering a green economy as New York State recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Enshrined into law through the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, New York is on a path to reach its mandated goals of economy wide carbon neutrality and achieving a zero-carbon emissions electricity sector by 2040, including 70 percent renewable energy generation by 2030, faster than any other state. It builds on New York's unprecedented ramp-up of clean energy including a $3.9 billion investment in 67 large-scale renewable projects across the state, the creation of more than 150,000 jobs in New York's clean energy sector, a commitment to develop 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035, and 1,800 percent growth in the distributed solar sector since 2011. Under Governor Cuomo’s leadership, New York will build on this progress and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, while ensuring that at least 35 percent with a goal of 40 percent of the benefits of clean energy investments benefit disadvantaged communities, and advancing progress towards the state's 2025 energy efficiency target of reducing on-site energy consumption by 185 TBtus.

Today’s decision may be obtained by going to the Documents section of the Department of Public Services Web site at www.dps.ny.gov and entering Case Numbers 17-F-0282 [Alle-Catt] or 16-F-0267 [Deer River] in the input box labeled "Search for Case/Matter Number". Many libraries offer free Internet access. Commission documents may also be obtained from the Commission’s Files Office, 14th floor, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223 (518-474-2500). If you have difficulty understanding English, please call 1-800- 342-3377 for free language assistance services regarding this press release.