Ontario-based energy company plans to build two solar farms in Chautauqua County
A sustainable energy company from Ontario wants to build two more 10 megawatt community solar farm projects in Chautauqua County.
Saturn Power of Baden, Ontario intends to build two five-megawatt energy plants in Stockton and Pomfret on 54 acres of undeveloped farmland and meadows. All of the projects add up to a new investment of $15.6 million for the company that runs the solar power plant. This is on top of the two other projects that had already been approved for the company in the county.
In order to get financing, Saturn also claims it requires tax advantages from the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency.
“The economics are marginal enough” that the tax breaks are needed for the project to be profitable, Saturn said. It’s asking for a special 25-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes on the property for each project, plus $400,000 in sales and $100,000 in mortgage-recording tax breaks on each.
In addition to permit fees and a host community benefits agreement, it is also said that the renewable energy projects will bring in an extra $1.25 million in taxes over the course of the PILOT.
A Canadian alternative energy provider is seeking tax credits in excess of $5.7 million for a new solar farm in Chautauqua County.
Both projects would begin in the fourth quarter of the current year and conclude in the first quarter of 2024. Saturn is also building a 5-megawatt array in Sheridan and a 3.5-megawatt array in Pomfret.
- In one of the new projects, called Schofield Solar, Saturn would lease 28 acres at 5208 W. Main Road in Pomfret from owner R. Chadwick Land Holdings, with 25 acres inside a fenced-in area, plus a buffer zone. The PILOT would save $649,432.
- In the second project, dubbed Scinta Solar after property owner Maria E. Scinta, Saturn would lease 26 acres at 7030 S. Stockton Cassadaga Road , with 23 acres inside a fenced area plus a buffer zone. The PILOT would save $689,470.
