Connecticut’s solar energy sector is entering its next phase, marked by ever-larger projects and greater scrutiny by regulators and farming advocates on the long-term impact ground-mounted panel arrays have on the state’s limited stock of agricultural land. One upstart solar developer working to become a player in that evolving landscape is Hartford-based Verogy, and the strategies it’s employing to ward off opposition are unique, to say the least. The company is pursuing developments in several states and has a Connecticut pipeline of six pending and approved projects totaling more than 20 megawatts. By 2024, Verogy is hoping to develop nearly triple that amount of capacity annually. Hurlburt wrote to the Siting Council in September that Verogy’s grazing and pollinator proposals, which were key to his approval of several other projects, were insufficient to address the removal of an established farming operation.
https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/hartfords-verogy-aims-to-soothe-growing-friction-between-solar-developers-farmland